— 


'fyA  tAe  o/  tfAe  ? .  AAtAoi . 

**  yi/ 


,  -'•  * ' 


THE 


FUTURE  OFAMERICA 


An  Address 

TO  THE 

PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


By  SAM  UE  L  HOARD. 


C  HICAGO  : 

Donnelley,  Gassette  &  Loyd,  Printers  and  Engravers. 

1879. 


ILLINOIS  HISTORICAL  SURVEY 


* 


6  Qf  l  ptEbJMAfiJ  Ayiah  j  MfijA 


ZSZ.'i 
<-/  6  5 '  f 


The  Future  of  Our  Country. 


For  many  years  past  the  future  of  my  country  and  my  race,  and 
the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  both,  have  been  problems  on  which 
I  have  bestowed  much  thought.  Without  attempting  a  recondite 
examination  of  past  events  in  the  world’s  history,  and  presenting  my 
own  views  as  being  entitled  to  approval,  I  shall,  in  this  article,  as  far 
as  possible,  confine  myself  to  facts  as  they  exist  and  have  existed; 
avoiding  purely  controversial  topics,  and  seeking  only  the  teachings 
of  truth  and  justice  as  my  guide.  I  am  standing  nearly  on  the  ex¬ 
treme  verge  of  human  existence,  without  a  thought  of  ever  mingling 
in  political  or  mere  partisan  controversies,  and  therefore  what  I  may 
say  will  be  divested  of  even  a  suspicion  that  I  am  actuated  by  per¬ 
sonal  or  selfish  motives.  The  constantly  changing  condition  of  the 
human  family,  so  far  as  social,  commercial  and  financial  relations 
are  concerned,  has  been  so  much  greater  within  the  present  century 
than  during  the  same  period  in  any  previous  stage  of  the  world’s 
history,  that  we  are  justified  in  the  conclusion  that  future  changes 
will  or  may  occur  so  much  more  rapidly  than  in  the  past  as  to  as¬ 
tonish  the  world  with  the  result. 

We  have  for  so  many  centuries  been  compelled  to  yield  assent  to 
the  maxim  that  “might  gives  right,”  and  left  undecided  the  question 
whether  “governments  are  instituted  for  the  benefit  of  the  governed 
or  the  governors”  that  great  crimes  have  been  glossed  over,  millions 
upon  millions  of  treasures  wrongfully  wasted,  and  millions  upon 
millions  of  lives  murderously  destroyed,  nations  overturned,  not  for 
the  benefit  of  the  governed,  but  that  the  governors  may  feast  and 
fatten  upon  the  products  of  the  toiling,  oppressed  and  down-trodden 
people.  Fawning  sycophants  have  hailed  with  loud  acclaim  these 
wholesale  robbers  and  murderers  as  “conquering  heroes,”  to  whom 
peans  of  praise  have  been  sung  and  honoring  plaudits  awarded,  until 
justice  and  right  in  all  national  affairs  have  been  set  aside  as  obsolete 
terms  applicable  only  to  those  over  whom  “might”  has  given 
them  dominion.  The  same  “might"  has  created  emper¬ 
ors,  kings,  princes,  dukes,  earls,  lords  and  nobles,  to  whom 
have  been  assigned  estates  and  autocratic  power  over  the  masses 
that  have  produced  the  wealth  of  which  they  are  robbed,  and  over 
whom  the  same  “might”  holds  control  with  relentless  grasp.  But 
the  people  in  all  lands  are  beginning  to  understand  and  claim  their 
rights.  These  can  only  be  secured  under  a  popular  government, 
wisely,  justly  and  properly  organized  and  administered.  Events 
appear  to  me  to  be  transpiring  that  may,  and  I  trust  will,  place  our 
country  in  a  position  that  will  aid  in  securing  this  desirable  result. 


2 


Slavery,  that  great  curse  and  blot  upon  our  national  honor  and  useful¬ 
ness,  has  been  removed,  and  we  are  taking  a  prominent  position  in 
perfecting  the  means  of  improving  and  increasing  the  social,  commer¬ 
cial  and  financial  interests  of  the  world. 

The  great  advances  during  the  present  century,  in  science,  the 
wonderful  improvements  in  mechanic  arts,  the  use  of  steam,  the 
wide  spread  railroad  system  and  telegraphic  communications,  were 
either  wholly  unknown  or  so  imperfectly  developed  as  to  be  previous¬ 
ly  of  little  use.  The  effect  of  these  combined  influences  is  ac¬ 
complishing  results  beyond  the  anticipations  of  the  most  ardent 
friends  of  humanity.  The  labor-saving  machinery,  which  I  might 
more  properly  denominate  the  auxiliary  workman  that  toils  without 
weariness, and  demands  neither  food  nor  raiment  in  compensation  for 
its  services,  has  been  so  perfected  as  to  become  a  principal  factor  of 
national  prosperity,  and  an  efficient  aid  in  procuring  that  other  factor, 
money ,  which,  unitedly  employed,  with  due  regard  to  the  just  rights 
of  both  labor  and  capital,  will  render  the  nation  so  employing  them 
the  commercial  and  financial  emporium  of  the  world.  The  improved 
use  of  steam  on  land  and  water  has  virtually  annihilated  three-fourths 
of  the  time  and  space  that  formerly  separated  the  human  race  from 
each  other  and  rendered  their  inter-communication  and  exchange  of 
products  so  much  broader  that  prejudices  are  being  gradually  eradi¬ 
cated,  and  the  field  of  social  relations  widened  to  a  three-fold  greater 
extent.  Railroads  that  then  had  no  existence  have  been  multiplied 
till  they  have  reached  an  extent  that  would  three  times  encircle  the 
globe.  Telegraphic  communications  and  electric  powers  had  not 
then  been  made  subservient  to  the  will  of  man.  Though  Franklin 
had  played  with  electricity  as  a  child  with  toys,  yet  neither  an  unborn 
Edison  or  his  compeers  had  caused  it  to  irradiate  the  world  with 
beams  that  almost  turn  night  into  day.  Now  there  are  more  than 
four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  miles  of  telegraphic  lines,  and 
probably  as  many  more  miles  of  wires  conveying  intelligence  of 
passing  events  from  one  region  to  another  a  hundred  times  more 
rapidly  than  the  rays  of  light  herald  forth  the  change  of  night  and 
day. 

As  I  have  intimated,  these  events  have  been  accompanied  by 
others,  socially  and  commercially  of  great  magnitude  and  importance. 
China  for  centuries  had  closed  her  portals  to  all  other  nations  of  the 
globe.  Japan  and  many  parts  of  Africa  were  ter7'a  incognita  to  all 
other  sections  of  the  world.  The  United  States  at  the  commence¬ 
ment  of  the  century  had  a  population  but  little  exceeding  five  millions, 
its  resources  were  wholly  unknown  to  Europe,  and  almost  equally 
unknown  to  ourselves  until  a  later  period,  when  DeTocqueville  visited 
America,  and  his  observant  eye  and  comprehensive  mind,  with  almost 
prophetic  ken,  directed  European  thought  to  the  great  future  in  store 
for  this  country.  It  is  true  that  the  great  Napoleon,  discerning  what 
was  required  to  build  up  a  nation  that  would  ultimately  become 
superior  to  his  great  foe,  had  previously  ceded  to  the  United  States 
that  section  of  our  country  lying  west  of  the  Mississippi,  which  has 
been  the  means  of  furnishing  that  other  great  factor  of  national 
prosperity,  money ,  sometimes  denominated  capital. 


3 


Capital  and  labor  are  terms  of  such  indefinite  import,  that  those 
using  them  should  carefully  define  the  meaning  in  which  they  are 
employed.  Writers  on  political  economy  usually  speak  of  capital 
and  labor  as  the  two  great  factors  of  national  prosperity,  without 
which  it  can  neither  be  secured  or  obtained,  and  this  view  is  un¬ 
doubtedly  correct.  Yet  it  appears  to  me  equally  certain  that  both 
may  be  employed  and  ruin  result  from  the  employment.  The 
world’s  history,  for  thousands  of  years,  fully  demonstrates  this. 
Labor  and  capital  have  been  abundantly  employed  in  build¬ 
ing  navies  and  fitting  out  armies  to  enthrone  or  dethrone 
monarchs,  to  overturn  or  destroy  one  nation  that  another  may 
possess  what  the  one  now  enjoys.  It  is  not  the  mere  acquisi¬ 
tion  of  money  joined  to  the  physical  effort  that  is  denominat¬ 
ed  labor,  that  renders  a  nation  or  people  prosperous.  Capital,  used 
as  a  term  indicating  money,  is,  it  appears  to  me,  wrongly  employed. 
Capital,  in  its  primitive  sense,  is  that  by  means  of  which  the  wants 
and  necessities  of  mankind  are  supplied.  The  warrior’s  capital  is  his 
military  skill;  the  lawyer’s,  his  legal  acquirements;  the  statesman’s, 
his  knowledge  of  national  affairs  and  the  capacity  to  use  that 
knowledge  to  advantage;  the  actor’s,  his  histrionic  ability;  and  so 
of  all  pursuits  in  life,  and  therefore  money,  when  spoken  of  as  capital 
is  not  in  all  respects  a  true  definition  of  the  word.  Labor,  though 
the  producer  and  creator  of  capital,  is  not  always  a  factor  of  national 
prosperity, and  neither  labor  nor  money, nor  both  combined  can  obtain 
and  secure  such  prosperity  unless  both  are  rightly  obtained  and 
employed.  Can  both  be  rightfully  obtained  and  employed  under 
any  form  of  government  as  now  organized,  except  under  that  of  a 
republican  ? 

It  is  not  my  purpose  in  this  article  to  enter  upon  a  discussion  of 
the  causes  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  empires  ;  that  has  been  already 
done  by  abler  writers,  and  they  have  shown  that  great  wealth, 
wrongly  acquired,  leads  to  great  vices,  which  ultimately  culminate 
in  the  reward  that  great  vices  merit.  In  reflecting  upon  the  present 
condition  of  the  world,  its  governments  and  their  results,  and  the 
changes  that  have  transpired  in  past  ages,  it  appeared  to  me,  that  in 
the  comparatively  near  future,  ther.e  would  be  great  and  important 
changes  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  that  the  era  is  already 
dawning  when  might  will,  in  some  degree  at  least,  yield  to  the  voice 
of  legitimate  right.  That  the  supremacy  which  England  has  so  long 
enjoyed,  commercially  and  otherwise,  must  pass  from  her  hands,  as 
it  has  passed  from  others  to  her  own  is,  to  my  mind,  beyond  a  doubt, 
and  in  this  view  I  am  confirmed  by  the  expressed  opinions  of  some 
of  her  most  thoughtful  statesmen,  as  well  as  by  the  acts  of  the  ruling 
powers  of  the  world.  On  this  point  I  will  quote  from  an  article  by 
the  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone,  published  in  the  October  number  of  the 
North- American  Review ,  entitled,  “  Kin  beyond  Sea,”  in  which, 
speaking  of  America,  he  says, 

“  It  is  she  alone  who,  at  a  coming  time,  can,  and  probably  will, 
“  wrest  from  us  that  commercial  supremacy.  We  have  no  title,  I  have 
“  no  inclination  to  murmur  at  the  prospect.  If  she  acquires  it,  she  will 
“make  the  acquisition  by  the  right  of  the  strongest;  but,  in  this 


4 


“  instance,  the  strongest  means  the  best.  She  will  probably  become 
“  what  we  are  now,  the  head  servant  of  the  great  household  of  the 
“  world,  the  employer  of  all  employed,  because  her  services  will  be 
“  the  most  and  the  ablest.  We  have  no  more  title  to  complain  of  her 
“than  Venice  or  Genoa,  or  Holland  has  had  against  us.”  Further 
on  he  says,  speaking  of  the  domain  of  political  philosophy,  “  The 
“  student  of  the  future,  in  this  department,  will  have  much  to  say  in 
“the  way  of  comparison  between  American  and  British  institutions. 
“  But  there  is  no  parallel  in  all  the  world  to  the  case  of  that  prolific 
“  mother  who  has  sent  forth  her  innumerable  children  overall  the 
“earth  to  be  the  founders  of  half  a  dozen  empires  *  *  but 

“among  these  children,  there  is  one  whose  place  in  the  world’s  eye, 
“and  in  history,  is  superlative,  it  is  the  American  Republic.”  And 
in  the  same  article  he  says,  “  While  other  countries  have  doubled,  or 
“  at  most  trebled  their  populations,  she  has  risen  during  one  single 
“  century  of  freedom,  in  round  numbers,  from  two  millions  to  forty- 
“  five.  *  *  *  I  suppose  the  very  next  census,  in  the  year  1880, 

“  will  exhibit  her  to  the  world  as  certainly  the  wealthiest  of  all 
“nations.  The  huge  figures  of  ^1,000,000,000,  which  may  be  taken 
“  roundly  as  the  annual  income  of  the  United  Kingdom,  has  been 
“reached  at  a  surprising  rate,  a  rate  which  may,  perhaps,  be  best 
“  expressed  by  saying,  that  if  we  had  started  forty  or  fifty  years  ago 
“  from  zero,  at  the  rate  of  our  recent  annual  increment,  we  should 
“  now  have  reached  our  present  position.  But  while  we  have  been 
“  advancing  with  this  portentious  rapidity,  America  is  passing  us  by 
“at  a  canter.  Yet  even  now  the  work  of  searching  the  soil  and 
“  bowels  of  the  territory,  and  opening  out  her  enterprises  throughout 
“  its  vast  expanse,  is  in  infancy.  The  England  and  the  America  of 
“  the  present  are  probably  the  two  strongest  nations  of  the  world ; 
“  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  daughter,  at  some  no  very  distant 
“time,  will,  whether  fairer  or  less  fair,  be  unquestionably  stronger 
“than  the  mother.”  And,  I  will  add,  as  much  stronger  as  our  vast 
domain,  our  climatic  advantages,  our  fertile  soil,  our  cotton,  cereal, 
mineral,  oil,  and  other  resources,  exceed  those  of  the  fast-anchored 
isle.  The  railroads  of  the  United  States  already  exceed  eighty 
thousand  miles,  and  when  the  Northern  and  Southern  Pacific  are 
completed,  with  such  laterals  as  will  naturally  be  constructed  before 
their  completion,  will  reach  the  great  extent  of  one  hundred  thou¬ 
sand  miles  ;  to  these  must  be  added  our  ocean,  lake,  river,  and  canal 
communications,  which  give  such  easy,  cheap,  and  rapid  intercourse, 
as  to  render  our  vast  resources  subservient  to  and  in  harmonious 
co-operation  with  each  other,  at  the  least  possible  cost. 

I  have  quoted  thus  largely  from  the  expressed  views  of  this  emi¬ 
nent  English  statesman  to  show  that  my  opinions  in  regard  to  the 
possible  future  of  America,  are  not  the  fancies  of  a  disordered 
imagination,  but  the  well-grounded  convictions  of  thoughtful  men  in 
all  parts  of  the  world,  as  is  evinced  by  the  extraordinary  and  unpre¬ 
cedented  attentions  bestowed  upon  Gen.  Grant  in  his  recent  travels. 
As  a  military  hero  he  may  merit  great  attention  by  those  who  con¬ 
sider  the  destruction  of  human  lives  more  praiseworthy  than  the 
saving  of  them ;  but,  even  in  this  respect,  would  crowned  heads,  in 


5 


any  part  of  the  globe,  have  condescended  to  bestow  such  attentions 
upon  one  who  was  simply  a  military  hero?  I  think  not.  The 
honors  bestowed  and  the  attention  shown  Gen.  Grant  arise  from 
the  position  America  now  occupies  among  the  nations  of  the  earth; 
and  the  fact  that  he  has  heretofore  been  the  head  of  the  Republic, 
and  possibly  may  again  fill  that  position,  rather  than  from  any  extraor¬ 
dinary  merits  of  the  individual.  In  what  I  shall  hereafter  say,  I 
shall  principally  confine  my  remarks  to  questions  connected  with 
what  are  termed  capital  and  labor.  On  both  topics,  as  I  have 
already  intimated,  it  appears  to  me  there  are  vague,  and,  in  some 
degree,  false  conceptions  entertained,  which  it  is  my  desire  to  remove 
and,  if  possible,  aid  in  the  formation  of  more  correct  views. 

In  regard  to  money  and  its  legitimate  use,  the  moment  we  travel 
beyond  the  precincts  of  barter,  which  necessarily  are  confined  to 
neighborhoods,  we  must  of  necessity  have  some  universally  ac¬ 
knowledged  measure  of  values,  which,  in  all  ages,  has  been  denomi¬ 
nated  money,  and  in  its  use,  “current  among  merchants,”  not  current 
among  nations ,  for  these  have  narrow  limits,  but  current  wherever  mer¬ 
cantile  traffic  extends  throughout  the  world.  It  is,  therefore,  perti¬ 
nent  and  important  to  ascertain  what  is  and  what  is  not  money. 
McCulloch  says :  “  To  constitute  money,  some  commodity  must  be 
adopted,  possessing  certain  qualities  to  entitle  it  to  universal  ac¬ 
ceptance  as  the  measure  of  value.”  ist.  It  should  be  susceptible  of 
divisibility  without  loss  or  injury.  2nd.  It  should  admit  of  being 
kept  for  an  indefinite  period  without  deterioration.  3rd.  It  should, 
by  possessing  great  value  in  small  bulk,  be  easily  transported  from 
place  to  place.  4th.  That  one  piece  of  money  of  the  same  denom¬ 
ination,  should  be  equal  in  value  to  every  other  piece  of  money  of 
the  same  denomination.  5th.  That  its  value  should  be  steady,  or 
as  little  subject  to  variation  as  possible — and  I  might,  perhaps, 
with  propriety  add  that,  when  not  required  for  commercial  purposes, 
it  should  be  susceptible  of  being  manufactured  into  articles  pleas¬ 
ing  to  the  eye,  or  gratifying  to  the  taste,  and  reconvertible  at  pleas¬ 
ure  into  money.  Gold  and  silver  alone  possess  these  requisites,  and 
therefore,  alone  are  the  God-given  money  of  the  world.  There 
have  been  temporary  exceptions,  such  as  iron,  by  the  Lacedemonians ; 
copper  or  bronze,  by  the  Romans;  shells,  furs,  beads,  etc.,  by  bar¬ 
barian  tribes ;  but  all  have  been  abandoned  by  civilized  communi¬ 
ties,  as  experience  demonstrated  their  impracticability.  Diamonds 
and  precious  stones  are  more  valuable,  taking  bulk  as  the  test,  but 
they  are  not  divisible  without  loss,  and  a  carat  of  either  may  be 
much  more  valuable  than  another  carat  of  the  same  material.  Plat¬ 
inum,  though  susceptible  of  divisibility  without  loss,  and,  possibly, 
more  indestructible  than  either  gold  or  silver,  can  not  be  manufac¬ 
tured  into  articles  of  ornament  or  beauty;  and,  besides,  the  All-wise 
Creator  has  not  seen  fit  to  place  it  within  the  reach  of  man  in  suf¬ 
ficient  quantities  to  meet  man’s  necessities  as  money  “  current  among 
merchants,”  and,  therefore,  it  has  never  been  so  used  universally  in 
all  ages,  though  Russia  has  attempted  it.  Iron,  though  convertible 
into  more  articles  of  utility  than  any  other  metal,  and  in  some  con¬ 
ditions  more  valuable  as  to  bulk  than  either  gold  or  silver ;  still,  when 


6 


of  equal  weight  is  of  unequal  value,  and,  in  most  conditions,  too  pon¬ 
derous  for  universal  use  as  money.  In  great  exigencies,  or  from  less 
commendable  motives,  nations  have  issued  substitutes  for  money, 
or  fiat  currency,  which  people  have  been  temporarily  compelled  to 
receive  as  such,  though  it  possessed  none  of  the  requisites  that  con¬ 
stitute  money,  and  was  as  valueless  as  the  paper,  parchment,  or 
leather,  on  which  it  was  printed,  written  or  stamped,  and  was  only  re¬ 
ceivable  within  the  narrow  limits  of  the  country  or  nation  that  issued 
it — it,  in  fact,  was  not  “money  current  among  merchants.”  Its  only 
value  consisted  in  the  abiliry  of  the  maker  to  redeem  it  in  gold  or 
silver,  containing  as  many  grains  of  either  metal  as  the  laws  of  the 
country  had  determined  should  constitute  the  dollar,  livre,  pound  or 
rouble.  That  silver  is  money  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  for  thous¬ 
ands  of  years  it  has  been  current  as  such  among  merchants  in  all 
parts  of  the  world;  that  many  nations  make  it  the  standard  of  val¬ 
ue  in  all  financial  transactions,  and  the  only  legal  tender  in  pay¬ 
ment  of  debts.  That  gold  is  money  is  also  evident  from  the 
same  fact,  though  in  a  far  more  limited  degree.  That  gold  and  sil¬ 
ver  united  are  money,  is  equally  assured,  from  the  fact  that  many 
nations  make  both  a  legal  standard,  by  means  of  which  all 
contracts  are  liquidated.  That  nothing  else  but  gold  or  silver  is 
money,  is  beyond  controversy,  because  no  civilized  community,  in 
any  part  of  the  globe,  accepts,  as  the  standard  of  value,  any  com¬ 
modity  except  silver  or  gold,  and  because  there  is  no  other  commo¬ 
dity  that  possesses  the  requisites  to  constitute  money.  Any  con¬ 
tract  for  the  purchase  or  sale  of  any  specific  article,  can  only  be 
fulfilled  by  the  delivery  of  the  specified  article;  and  the  penalty  for 
the  non-fulfillment  of  the  contract,  is  the  payment  in  money  of  as 
many  dollars  as  the  article  was  worth  at  the  time  the  payment  became 
due,  and  these  dollars  must  contain  as  many  grains  of  gold  or  silver 
as  the  law  requires  shall  be  contained  in  the  specified  number  of 
of  dollars.  Fiat  currency ,  or  even  subsidiary  coin,  can  not  be 
used  legally  or  justly  in  payment;  for  the  one  possesses  no  requisite 
to  constitute  it  money,  and  the  other  has  not  the  required  amount  of 
gold  or  silver  to  render  it  equivalent  to  the  number  of  grains  of  gold 
or  silver  that  the  number  of  dollars  are  required  to  contain.  The 
amount  of  gold  and  silver  used  as  currency  is  variously  estimated, 
though  generally  conceded  to  be  about  equally  divided  between  the 
two  metals.  Some  place  the  amount  at  four  thousand  millions, 
others  at  six  and  eight,  and  one  as  high  as  fourteen,  but  two  emi¬ 
nent  English  statisticians  believe  it  to  be  about  four  thousand  mil¬ 
lions.  From  a  statement  made  by  Dr.  Soetbeer,  to  which  I  shall 
hereafter  allude,  the  amount  of  gold  and  silver  discovered  since  1492, 
is  $14,588,623,007,  of  which  $6,612,193,087  is  gold,  and  $7,976,429,- 
920  is  silver.  How  much  of  silver  and  gold  in  all  these  387  years 
has  been  converted  into  articles  of  ornament  and  use,  it  would  be  im¬ 
possible  to  say;  and  how  much  has  been  lost  by  abrasion  and  beating 
it  into  gold  and  silver  leaf,  is  impossible  to  determine.  It  is  gen¬ 
erally  conceded  that  an  absolute  loss  of  five  per  cent,  is  sustained 
by  the  manufacture  of  either  metal  into  articles  of  ornament  or 
use,  and  the  loss  on  coin  by  abrasion  is  variously  estimated  at  from 


7 


one-fourth  to  one-half  per  cent,  annually.  From  the  great  amount 
of  silver  and  gold  in  use,  otherwise  than  as  currency,  J  feel  assured 
that  the  estimate  of  the  English  writers  on  this  topic,  are  nearly 
correct,  if  not  about  the  actual  amount  of  gold  and  silver  used  as  a 
circulating  medium.  Yet,  this  amount  is  scattered  among  the  vari¬ 
ous  nations  of  the  earth,  and  could  not  all  be  transferred  at  any 
given  time  to  any  financial  center  to  meet  accruing  interest  as  it  be¬ 
came  due,  much  less,  in  payment  of  any  part  of  the  principal,  and 
therefore,  of  necessity,  some  representative  must  be  used  instead  of 
coin ;  but  this  representative  must  be  of  equal  value  to  coin,  or  it 
will  not  be  received. 

The  indebtedness  of  the  principal  nations  of  the  world  amounts 
to  over  twenty-four  thousand  millions  of  dollars;  the  State,  munici¬ 
pal,  corporate  and  individual  indebtedness  vastly  exceeds  this  sum, 
so  that  the  interest-paying  debt  of  the  world  greatly  exceeds  forty- 
eight  thousand  millions  of  dollars.  The  rate  of  interest  on  this  vast 
amount  will  probably  average  over  five  per  cent.,  but  placing  it  at 
only  four  and  one  half,  it  would  amount  annually  to  $2, 160,000,000, 
consequently  all  the  silver  and  gold  used  as  curreney,  would  only  be 
adequate  to  the  payment  of  the  interest  alone,  for  less  than  two 
years,  and  if  the  mono-metallic  basis  was  adopted,  for  less  than  one. 
And  if  capitalists  should  retain  the  money  in  their  own  hands  for 
this  short  period,  there  would  not  be  any  legitimate  money  with 
which  business  of  any  kind  could  be  transacted.  This  simple 
statement  shows  the  immense  power  that  bond-holders  possess  over 
the  financial  affairs  of  the  world,  and  accounts  very  fully  for  the 
difficulty  that  has  been  experienced  during  the  past  few  years. 

Assuming  that  what  is  called  money,  is  the  true  representative  of 
the  value  of  property  of  the  world,  it  will  at  once  be  seen  how  vast¬ 
ly  that  property  is  over  estimated.  When  all  the  money  is  not 
enough  to  pay  even  one-twelfth  part  of  its  national,  State,  munici¬ 
pal  and  corporate  indebtedness,  leaving  out  of  view  all  required  for 
business  purposes,  and  the  property  it  is  supposed  to  represent.  It 
is  sometimes  said  that  debts  and  credits  counterbalance  each  other. 
While  this,  in  some  degree,  may  be  admitted  of  ordinary  business 
transactions,  it  can  not,  so  far  as  national,  State,  municipal,  or  even 
corporate  indebtedness  is  concerned.  These  are  all  due  to  capital¬ 
ists,  who  can  not  be  affected  beyond  the  tax  that  may  be  assessed 
against  them,  and  unfortunately  for  the  people,  the  bond-holders  of 
the  United  States  are  the  principal  creditors,  and  their  bonds  are 
wholly  exempted  from  taxation,  consequently  this  class  of  citizens 
have  privileges  that  none  other  enjoy;  yet  they  are  the  class  that 
clamor  most  loudly  for  a  gold  basis ,  that  their  bonds  may  be  doubly 
valuable,  and  the  property  of  every  other  class  be  recognized  at  only 
half  its  legitimate  value. 

The  attempt  to  depreciate  the  relative  value  of  silver  by  the 
English  government,  as  well  as  the  demonetizing  of  it  by  our  own, 
was  not  simply  to  increase  the  value  of  the  bonds  owned  by  the 
capitalists  ofthe  respective  nations,  strong  as  was  that  influence,  but 
it  was  also  to  give  those  capitalists,  particularly  the  English,  the 
means  of  safely  speculating  in  that  which  was  as  truly  money  as  the 


8 


gold  with  which  they  operated.  It  likewise  gave  the  British  capital¬ 
ists  the  power  to  derange  the  financial  transactions  of  the  world  for 
their  own  interest  and  profit.  Estimating  the  amount  of  silver  used 
as  currency  at  two  thousand  millions  of  dollars,  a  change  of  values  of 
one  per  cent,  would  amount  to  twenty  millions,  and  a  change  to  that 
extent  could  be  made  every  week,  if  not  every  day,  without  attract¬ 
ing  public  attention.  But  when  a  change  of  fifteen  or  twenty  per 
cent,  was  accomplished  and  maintained  for  several  years  the  amount 
of  which  the  owners  of  silver  have  been  robbed  is  very  great.  It  is 
not,  however,  to  be  supposed  that  the  entire  two  thousand  millions 
of  silver  have,  during  these  years,  passed  through  their  hands,  but 
an  amount  upon  which  hundreds  of  millions  of  profits  have  been  re¬ 
alized  by  these  capitalists  has  been  drawn  from  Germany  and  the 
United  States.  No  sympathy  for  Germany  can  be  felt,  for  she  has 
only  disgorged  a  small  part  of  what  she  robbed  France,  but  it  is  far 
otherwise  with  regard  to  the  laboring  classes  of  America,  whose  los¬ 
ses  have  been  so  great  that  they  deserve  more  than  ordinary  commis¬ 
eration,  especially  when  it  is  considered  that  these  losses  have  been 
imposed  upon  them  by  the  very  power  whose  duty  it  was  to  protect 
and  shield,  rather  than  aid  a  foreign  power  in  injuring  them  for  its 
own  advantage. 

A  much  more  intelligent  appreciation  of  this  monetary  question 
than  is  now  generally  entertained,  can  be  formed,  when  a  knowledge 
of  the  amount  of  the  respective  metals  discovered  and  brought 
into  use  in  the  past  is  known.  Dr.  Soetbeer,  to  whom  I  have  before 
referred,  and  whose  estimates  are  as  reliable  as  any  that  can  be 
found,  in  regard  to  the  production  of  these  metals,  assumes  as  a 
starting  point  the  year  1492,  at  which  period  Mr.  Jacobs  estimates 
the  silver  and  gold  used  as  currency  at  $  165,000,000.  From  this 
period  during  the  reign  of  Edward  IV  to  the  year  1600,  in  the  43d 
year  of  Elizabeth’s  reign,  the  gold  product  for  108  years  was  $  501,- 
693,248,  and  the  silver  $979,024,900.  The  first  52  years  of  this  pe¬ 
riod  the  gold  product  greatly  exceeded  the  silver,  and  during  the 
last  56  years  the  silver  vastly  exceeded  the  gold,  making  the  rela¬ 
tive  product  of  the  whole  term  as  before  stated.  From  1601  to  1700 
the  relative  product  was,  of  gold  $606,314,580,  and  of  silver  $1,596,- 
407,750.  From  1701  to  1800  the  product  of  gold  was  $1,262,806,- 
400,  and  of  silver  $2,445,371,337,  and  from  1801  to  1878  the  gold 
product  amounted  to  $ 4,278,033,135,  while  the  silver  was  only 
$2,969,306,913,  making  the  total  product  of  gold  from  1492  to  1878 
$6,612,193,087,  and  the  silver  $7,976,429,920,  forming  a  grand  total 
of  $14,588,623,007.  In  the  synoptical  view  as  given  by  Dr.  Soetbeer, 
which  has  fallen  under  my  observation,  he  does  not  give  the  basis 
upon  which  the  amount  of  silver  and  gold  are  estimated  relatively  to 
each  other.  From  1492  to  1600  the  relative  value  never  varied  far 
from  11  to  1,  and  the  inference  is  legitimate  that  such  was  the  ratio 
by  which  the  estimate  was  made.  In  1604,  in  the  second  year  of  James 
I’ s  reign  the  relative  value  was  1 2T1Tr  to  1.  Ini626,inthe  second  year 
of  Charles  I’s  reign,  it  was  13^  to  1.  In  1666,  in  the  eighteenth  year 
of  Charles  II’s  reign,  it  was  i4y4o8o‘  t0  x>  and  in  1717,  in  the  third  year 
of  George  I’s  reign,  it  was  i5yo-  to  D  and  in  1816,  when  England 


9 


adopted  the  gold  standard,  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  George  Ill's 
reign,  it  was  i4y2-o8q-  to  i.  From  1801  to  1820  the  annual  product  of 
silver  was  about  3  to  1  of  gold,  and  from  that  time  to  1840  the  annual 
product  of  silver  was  fully  equal  to  2  to  1  ;  yet  in  all  that  period 
the  relative  value  of  silver  never  declined  below  the  Latin  standard 
of  15^  to  1.  From  1840  to  i860  the  gold  product  began  to  exceed 
that  of  silver,  until  the  amount  of  the  two  metals  has  now  reached 
nearly  an  equality.  From  1851  to  i860  the  gold  product  was  $1,- 
340,073,070,  while  that  of  silver  was  but  $383,968,130.  From  1861 
to  1870  the  gold  produced  was  $1,252,847,420,  and  the  silver  only 
$523,125,370.  From  1871  to  1878  the  gold  was  $896,653,024, 
while  the  silver  has  been  $659,200,000.  If  the  ratio  of  production 
of  the  precious  metals  should  continue  for  the  next  twelve  years  the 
same  as  from  1851  to  i860  the  relative  amount  of  each  in  the  world 
would  be  very  nearly  equal  ;  and  if  from  1492  to  1600  the  relative 
value  was  about  11  to  1,  when  the  relative  product  of  silver  was 
much  greater  than  at  present,  why  may  we  not  rationally  infer  that 
the  ratio  of  valuation  will  be  the  same,  especially  as  that  was  very 
nearly  the  relative  value  under  the  Jewish  rule  and  in  previous  ages? 

It  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  was  the  discovery  of  the  silver 
mines  in  America  that  deranged  values  in  the  17th  century,  and  that 
the  discovery  of  gold  about  the  middle  of  the  present  century 
threatened  a  similar  derangement ;  indeed  an  eminent  French  writer, 
M.  Chevalier,  in  1855,  expressed  great  fears  that  France  was  in 
danger  of  such  derangement  in  her  financial  affairs  from  the  exces¬ 
sive  production  of  American  gold,  and  it  is  more  than  probable  that 
the  fear  of  depreciation  in  the  value  of  gold  bonds  owned  by 
European  capitalists  has  exerted  great  influence  in  the  attempt 
to  establish  a  mono-metallic  currency  throughout  the  world. 
In  regard  to  the  views  entertained  by  French  and  other  writers, 
respecting  the  use  of  both  precious  metals  as  currency,  M.  Wolowskie 
says,  “  To  adopt  one  metal,  gold,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other,  it  is 
“  not  merely  as  if  they  closed  all  existing  mines  of  silver,  but  as  if 
“they  suppressed  in  this  regard  the  labor  of  all  ages.  The  sum  total 
“  of  the  precious  metals  is  reckoned  at  fifty  millions,  one  half  gold 
“  and  one  half  silver.  If  by  a  stroke  of  the  pen  they  suppress  one 
“of  these  metals  they  double  the  demand  of  the  other  metal  to  the 
“  ruin  of  all  debtors."  And  an  authority  of  perhaps  greater  merit, 
the  French  Rothschild,  says,  “  The  actual  state  of  things,  that  is  to 
“  say  the  simultaneous  employment  of  the  two  precious  metals,  is 
“satisfactory  and  gives  rise  to  no  complaints.  What  is  more  needed 
“  in  commerce  is  facility  in  its  operation,  and  to-day  it  employs, 
“  according  to  its  needs,  sometimes  gold  and  sometimes  silver,  and 
“the  partial  displacement  of  silver  by  gold,  which  has  taken  place  in 
“  these  later  times,  has  been  effected  without  inconvenience.  They 
“now  demand  that  silver  should  be  demonetized,  as  fifteen  years 
“  ago  they  demanded  that  gold  should  be.  The  French  govern- 
“  ment  wisely  refused  to  demonetize  gold,  and  it  will  be  equally  wise 
“  to  refuse  to  demonetize  silver  now.  In  fact,  whether  gold  or  silver 
“  dominates  for  the  time  being,  it  is  always  true  that  the  two  metals 
“  concur  together  in  forming  the  monetary  circulation  of  the  world, 


IO 


“and  it  is  the  general  mass  of  the  two  metals  combined  which  serves 
“  as  the  measure  of  value  of  things.  In  countries  with  the  double 
“  standard,  the  principal  circulation  will  always  be  established  of 
“  that  metal  which  is  the  more  abundant.  It  is  scarcely  twenty 
“  years  ago  that  silver  was  the  principal  element  in  our  transactions. 
“Since  the  discoveries  of  the  California  and  Australian  mines  it  is 
“  gold  which  has  taken  its  place.  No  person  can  foresee  what  the 
“future  has  in  store  for  us,  or  can  predict  that  the  proportion  in 
“  which  the  two  metals  are  now  produced  may  not  be  changed  in 
“  favor  of  silver.  It  appears  to  me  that  there  are  real  advantages  in 
“  maintaining  silver  in  circulation,  and  none  in  its  suppression,  since 
“  it  is  now  actually  a  part  of  the  circulation.  I  should  regret  the 
“  demonetization  of  silver  in  its  relations  to  our  internal  circulation, 
“our  commercial  intercourse  with  other  countries,  and  the  always 
“uncertain  eventualities  of  the  future.  But  I  should  regret  it  even 
“  more  if  our  example  should  be  followed  by  other  nations,  for  that 
“  suppression  of  silver  would  amount  to  a  veritable  destruction  of 
“  values  without  any  compensation.” 

If  such  are  the  views  of  the  great  French  financier,  whose  firm 
controls,  in  a  great  degree,  the  monetary  operations  of  the  world, 
and  they  were  such  as  the  interests  of  France  required  her  to  adopt, 
how  much  more  potent  ought  they  to  be  in  regulating  the  financial 
action  of  America  whose  interests  are  so  much  greater  that  silver 
should  be  recognized  as  money  by  the  world?  I  have  fully 
shown  that  if  an  attempt  to  change  the  relative  value  between  gold 
and  silver  could  be  justifiable  it  was  during  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries,  when  the  product  of  silver  so  vastly  exceeded 
that  of  gold,  but  in  all  that  period  of  two  hundred  years  the  estima¬ 
ted  relative  value  never  extended  beyond  that  of  i5T2¥  to  i,and  that 
the  Latin  standard  of  15  \  to  1  placed  a  lower  estimate  upon  the 
relative  value  of  silver  than  was  ever  made  by  the  English  govern¬ 
ment  from  its  organization  up  to  1816,  when  it  adopted  the  gold 
standard.  In  further  confirmation  that  our  estimate  of  16  to  1  was 
lower  than  that  entertained  by  any  European  nation,  it  will  only  be 
necessary  to  add  that  to  save  silver  as  a  circulating  medium  in  our 
country,  and  prevent  it  from  being  wholly  withdrawn,  leaving  gold 
only  as  our  metallic  currency,  an  act  was  passed  in  1853  authorizing 
the  issue  of  a  debased  coin,  denominated  subsidiary  silver  coin, 
which  contained  only  about  nine-tenths  as  much  silver  as  a  coin 
bearing  the  denomination  of  half-dollar  was  by  law  required  to  con¬ 
tain  ;  and  to  this  debased  coin  the  national  certificate  was  affixed 
that  it  was  fifty  cents,  when  by  the  established  laws  of  the  land  it 
was  but  forty- five, —  thus  fixing  the  brand  of  dishonor  upon  our 
national  character,  upon  the  double  basis  of  falsehood  and  dishon¬ 
esty,  at  least  so  far  as  moneyed  transactions  are  concerned.  By  the 
act  of  Congress  passed  January  18,  1837,  “establishing  a  mint  and 
regulating  the  coins  of  the  United  States,”  it  is  provided  by  Sec.  9, 
that  of  the  silver  coins  the  dollar  shall  be  of  the  weight  of  412-I- 
grains,  the  half  dollar  of  the  weight  of  20 6J  grains,  and  by  Sec.  12  of 
the  same  act  it  is  enacted  that  the  cent  shall  be  considered  of  the 
value  of  one  hundredth  part  of  a  dollar.  By  this  act  there  is  no 


other  coin  designated  as  a  dollar  but  that  of  silver,  and  I  am  not 
aware  that  there  is  any  legitimate  dollar  but  a  silver  onev,£omposed 
as  before  stated,  of  41 2-§-  grains,  or  any  half  dollar  but  one  of  silver 
of  206J- grains  ;  consequently  the  use  of  the  term  “an  eighty-five 
cent  dollar”  is  as  far  from  a  correct  use  of  language  as  it  would  be 
to  say  a  white  blackbird,  or  an  eighteen-shilling  pound.  I  propose 
to  add  some  further  remarks  as  to  what  is  and  what  is  not  money 
or,  in  other  words,  on  the  subject  of  Fiat  Currency. 

Fiat  Money  may  appropriately  be  denominated  that  which  is  made 
so  by  decree  or  command,  not  in  consequence  of  its  intrinsic  worth, 
but  because  the  authority  that  issued  it  has  the  power  to  enforce  it, 
and  its  operation  will  extend  just  as  far  and  no  farther  than  that 
power  is  supreme.  At  different  periods  in  the  world’s  history 
different  nations  have  resorted  to  the  expediency  of  issuing  Fiat 
currency,  but  uniformly  attended  with  a  like  result.  Persia,  Russia, 
France,  our  own  country  in  its  struggle  for  freedom,  and  the  Con¬ 
federate  States  in  the  late  Rebellion  have  all  attempted  its  use  as 
money,  but  it  has  only  proved  to  be  worth  what  its  makers  could 
pay  for  it  in  gold  or  silver — and  its  use  never  extended  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  power  that  issued  it — conclusively  showing  that  it  does 
not  possess  any  of  the  attributes  of  “  money  current  among  mer¬ 
chants.”  The  issue  of  Fiat  currency  by  any  people,  to  any  consider¬ 
able  extent,  or  indeed  of  any  currency  that  is  not  the  true  repre¬ 
sentative  of  gold  or  silver,  has,  and  always  will  be  injurious  to  such 
people,  because  its  uniform  tendency  is  to  derange  values  and  pro¬ 
duce  fluctuations  in  prices  detrimental  to  all  classes,  except  perhaps 
the  gambling  and  stock-jobbing  fraternity.  All  writers  on  political 
economy  consider  fluctuations  in  value  one  of  the  greatest  evils  attend¬ 
ing  financial  and  commercial  transactions,  and,  as  I  have  stated, 
McCulloch  says  one  of  the  requisites  to  constitute  money  is  that  its 
value  should  be  steady  and  as  little  liable  to  variation  as  possible. 
During  the  late  internecine  war  the  fiat  currency  increased  the  circu¬ 
lating  medium  of  the  United  States  about  four  fold,  and  prices  of 
all  commodities  advanced  in  nearly  the  same  ratio.  A  large  portion 
of  the  producing  classes  was  withdrawn  from  their  usual  vocation  to 
compose  the  contending  armies,  and  to  supply  these  wants,  nof  only 
the  utmost  energies  of  the  remaining  population  was  called  forth, 
but  that  of  other  countries  with  which  we  had  commercial  relations, 
was  excited  to  increased  activity  by  the  sudden  demand  for  the  sup¬ 
ply  of  the  means  to  carry  on  a  war  of  such  great  magnitude — thus 
giving  to  all  producing  classes  a  much  greater  remuneration  for  their 
labors  than  under  ordinary  circumstances  they  would  have  received, 
but  for  which  America  alone  must  pay  the  penalty.  We  were  com¬ 
pelled  to  contract  a  national  debt  of  nearly  three  thousand  millions, 
at  a  sacrifice  so  startling  as  to  render  it  almost  incredulous.  During 
the  years  from  1862  to  1866  the  debt  was  increased  from  $524,176,- 
412.13  to  $2,773,236,173.69,  an  increase  in  five  years  of  $2,249,059,- 


761.36.  The  average  coin  value  of  this  indebtedness  was  68-|,  and 
the  actual  amount  paid  was  $1,533,858,741.38 ;  but  the  European 
purchasers  paid  in  old  useless  muskets  and  similar  articles  of  war, 
at  exorbitant  prices,  and  other  war  materials  at  such  cost  as  Euro- 

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12 


pean  cupidity  demanded,  as  well  as  by  Americans  for  necessaries 
furnished  at  prices  as  greatly  beyond  their  true  value  as  fiat  currency 
and  the  peculiar  condition  of  the  country  made  them  nominally 
worth,  and  those  who  supplied  them  are  the  only  individuals 
who  have  ultimately  profited  by  the  increased  values  resulting 
from  the  issue  of  Fiat  currency.  The  loss  to  the  nation  is 
the  difference  between  the  amount  of  the  debt  incurred  and 
the  coin  value  of  the  cost,  which  is  $71,520,101.99,  and  the  in¬ 
terest  on  that  amount  for  fifteen  years  which  would  be  $64,368,- 
041.65.  These  bond-holders  have  received  not  only  the  interest  on 
the  amount  invested  at  six  per  cent.,  but  also  on  the  whole  amount 
of  $2,249,059,761.36,  making  the  interest  on  the  loan  at  the  rate  of 
about  nine  per  cent,  for  about  fifteen  years.  I  do  not  make  these 
estimates,  however,  to  show  that  the  bond-holders  are  not  legally 
entitled  to  the  full  amount  called  for  in  the  bonds  in  coin,  but  to 
show  the  loss  sustained  by  the  nation  in  consequence  of  increased 
values  caused  by  the  use  of  Fiat  currency,  and  the  injustice  of  the 
demand  to  have  their  debts  paid  in  Gold  instead  of  coin.  It  is,  by 
some,  alleged  that  the  national  debt  should  be  paid  at  the  coin  value 
of  the  debt  when  contracted,  but  the  debt  was  contracted  for  a  given 
number  of  dollars,  and  not  for  the  return  of  the  articles  sold  or  for 
payment  of  an  amount  equal  to  coin  value  of  the  articles  when  sold. 
Dollars  are  only  known  as  representing  a  specified  number  of  grains 
of  gold  or  silver,  and  can  only  be  paid  in  gold  and  silver  according 
to  the  legal  standard  of  value. 

The  number  of  bankruptcies  that  have  occurred  from  1866  to 
1878,  and  their  aggregate  amount  is  mainly  attributable  to  Fiat  cur¬ 
rency  operations.  The  number  during  this  period  was  65,622,  and 
the  liabilities  $1,747,522,129,  which  is  fully  double  that  of  any  pre¬ 
vious  number  of  years,  both  in  number  and  amount,  and  mainly  attri¬ 
butable  to  the  speculating  and  gambling  operations  so  prevalent  dur¬ 
ing  that  period.  The  increased  State,  city,  and  county  indebtedness  is 
not  the  least  among  the  evils  resulting  from  a  fluctuating  currency. 
The  people  of  America  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  my  fellow-towns¬ 
man,  Robert  P.  Porter,  Esq.,  for  his  able  and  comprehensive  article, 
entitled,  “  Local  governments  at  home  and  abroad,”  published  in  the 
July  number  of  the  Princeto?i  Review.  By  this  article  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  local  indebtedness  in  eleven  States  increased  from  $286,- 
179,160  in  1870  to  $546,289,528  in  1878,  and  that  the  municipal 
indebtedness  of  130  of  the  principal  cities  increased  from  $221,312,- 
009  in  1866  to  $644,378,663  in  1876,  making  an  increased  indebted¬ 
ness  in  these  cities  and  States  cf  $683,177,022,  which  at  six  per 
cent,  interest  places  an  annual  burden  upon  the  producing  classes 
of  these  States  and  cities  of  $44,990,062,  beyond  that  which  rested 
upon  them  in  1866  and  1870.  I  will  allude  to  one  other  indebtedness 
which  has  increased  very  largely  within  the  last  fifteen  years,  viz.: 
that  incurred  in  the  construction  of  railroads.  In  1862  there  were 
in  operation  32,120  miles,  and  in  1875,  74,374.  The  average  cost  of 
construction  and  equipment  of  completed  roads  is  over  $60,000  per 
mile.  The  increased  number  of  miles  from  1862  to  1874  was  42,254, 
which  at  $60,000  per  mile  would  make  $2,535,240,000.  These  roads 


i3 


could  now  be  built  and  equipped  at  about  half  what  they  cost  when 
they  were  put  in  operation,  and  the  loss  is  therefore  fully  $1,000,- 
000,000;  but  this  injury  is  not  confined  simply  to  the  loss  of  the 
monev,  for  the  managers  of  the  roads  will  strive  to  save  themselves 
by  charging  the  people  higher  freight  and  fare  for  years  to  come 
than  would  be  necessary  had  the  roads  been  built  and  equipped  at 
such  cost  as  now  would  be  required. 

Passing  over,  without  attempting  to  estimate  the  amount  of  loss 
arising  from  all  the  stock-jobbing  and  gambling  operations  that  have 
so  disgraced  us  as  a  people,  and  the  official  frauds,  peculations,  and 
thefts  that  have  been  resorted  to,  to  enable  speculators  to  engage 
in  and  prosecute  their  vile  pursuits,  I  will  only  mention  one  other 
loss,  not  as  large  in  amount,  but  vastly  more  lamentable  in  its  results, 
because  it  affected  so  seriously  the  widows,  orphans,  and  struggling 
poor  who  were  striving  to  provide  for  a  home  for  their  old  age  or 
the  means  of  supplying  their  wants  in  hours  of  sickness  and  suffer¬ 
ing — I  refer  to  losses  sustained  by  those  who  had  placed  their  hard 
earnings  in  miscalled  savings  banks.  While  it  would  not  be  right  to 
stigmatize  all  interested  in  organizing  these  institutions  as  robbers, 
yet  undoubtedly  there  were  some  who  resorted  to  this  expedient 
under  the  influence  of  the  speculative  mania  that  so  widely  prevailed 
among  all  classes.  Still  the  losses,  in  all  instances,  are  traceable  to 
the  over  estimates  in  value  arising  from  the  issue  of  Fiat  currency . 
These  savings  banks  loaned  their  money  on  property  which  was  sup¬ 
posed  to  afford  ample  security,  and  yet  its  over-estimated  value  was 
so  great  that,  in  many  cases,  it  would  not  sell  for  half  the  amount 
loaned  upon  it,  and  consequently,  there  will  be  seen,  another  great 
evil  resulting  from  the  issue  of  Fiat  currency. 

In  speaking  of  capital  and  labor  I  have  heretofore  said  that  I 
considered  that  the  terms  were  often  vaguely  used  and  sometimes 
misapplied.  Though  both  are  required  to  obtain  and  secure  national 
prosperity,  yet  much  more  depends  upon  the  mode  of  obtaining 
and  the  right  use  when  obtained  than  in  the  acquisition  of  them.  If 
labor  is  supposed  to  consist  in  a  mere  physical  effort,  then  the  ass  or 
the  Chimpanzee  would  be  worthy  of  a  higher  reward  than  the  man 
whose  exertions  were  accompanied  by  a  wisely  conceived  plan  and 
an  intelligently  directed  effort.  The  labor  of  a  burglar  or  robber 
and  the  craft  employed  in  accomplishing  his  purpose  is  often  greater 
than  that  of  the  honest  artisan,  but  is  it  labor  or  intelligence  rightly 
employed?  The  acquisition  of  great  wealth  and  power  by  any 
nation  may  be  commendable,  but  if  that  wealth  and  power  are  em¬ 
ployed  in  building  up  large  navies  and  withdrawing  men  from  the 
productive  pursuits  of  life  to  murder  their  fellow-men,  and  rob  and 
destroy  the  property  of  other  nations,  the  question  may  most 
pertinently  be  asked,  is  that  labor  and  capital  rightly  employed  ? 

The  maxim,  that  national  debts  are  national  blessings,  has  been 
so  long  repeated,  that  probably  without  much  though  it  is  conceded 
to  have  been  founded  in  truth.  But  there  never  was  a  more  falla¬ 
cious  sentiment  uttered  by  man.  So  far  as  debts  are  concerned,  the 
same  obligations  rest  upon  nations  as  upon  individuals,  and  the 
command  “  to  owe  no  man  any  thi?ig ,  but  to  love  one  another  ” — is 


14 


equally  imperative  upon  all,  and  its  disobedience  will  in  all  cases  be 
found  alike  injurious.  The  amount  of  over  two  thousand  millions 
of  dollars  that  are  annually  required  to  be  paid  to  capitalists,  as  in¬ 
terest  on  loans,  is  a  tax  to  just  that  amount  upon  the  producing 
classes  without  any  adequate  or  just  return;  but  is  really  a  link  in 
the  chain  that  forever  holds  the  “  borrower  ”  more  firmly  “  a  slave  to 
the  lender.”  For  a  moment  consider  the  amount  of  good  that 
would  result  to  the  world  if  over  two  thousand  millions  of  dollars 
were  annually  expended  in  elevating  the  condition  of  the  producing 
classes  rather  than  in  depressing  them.  I  am  as  strongly  opposed 
to  all  socialistic  movements  of  every  description  as  any  man  can 
be,  but  I  am  equally  opposed  to  the  continuance  of  any  system  that 
drives  men  to  desperation  that  they  may  save  their  families  from  star¬ 
vation.  I  rejoice  to  see  my  country  rising  to  a  nobler  inspiration  than 
either  England  or  France  manifested  when  their  debts  became  bur¬ 
densome  and  oppressive ;  the  one  virtually  repudiated  two-thirds  of 
her  debt,  and  the  other  -f|-  of  it,  though  those  debts  were  for  coin 
loaned,  while  ours  was  for  war  materials  furnished  at  double  or 
treble  their  true  value.  But  I  am  grieved,  that  any  American  can 
be  found,  so  lost  to  a  true  sense  of  justice  and  right,  as  to  join  the 
greedy  plutocrats  of  the  old  world  in  demanding  in  payment  of  their 
debts  twice  what  the  terms  of  their  contract  entitle  them  to  ask, 
and  insist  with  such  pertinacity  on  a  compliance  with  their  demand, 
and  above  all  that  the  powers  of  our  government  should  be  devoted 
to  the  accomplishment  of  such  unhallowed  purposes. 

I  have  sought  in  vain  for  a  justifiable  reason  for  the  attempted 
establishment  of  a  mono-metallic  circulating  medium,  but  have 
never  seen  one  given,  nor  do  I  believe  that  one  exists;  and  the  de¬ 
monetizing  of  silver,  by  an  American  Congress  is,  as  appears  to  me, 
the  most  unjustifiable  act  that  was  ever  adopted  by  a  legislative 
body.  I  think  that  I  have  conclusively  shown  that  a  gold  basis 
could  never  be  permanently  established,  or  meet  the  necessities  of 
the  commercial  and  financial  wants  of  the  world,  and  that  it  has 
only  been  attempted  to  gratify  the  unjust  and  inordinate  greed 
of  the  bond-holders  to  render  their  bonds  doubly  valuable  and 
more  effectually  control  the  producing  classes  of  the  world.  In 
regard  to  demonetizing  silver  I  desire  to  add  some  thoughts  that 
appear  to  me  to  deserve  the  consideration  of  the  American  peo¬ 
ple.  The  evils  resulting  from  that  act  are  so  great  and  numerous 
that  I  shall  not  attempt  to  unfold  but  a  few  that  I  deem  most  worthy 
of  disapproval.  In  the  first  place  it  deprived  the  people  of  one 
half  the  means  of  paying  the  public  debt,  and  rendered  that  debt 
doubly  difficult  of  payment,  and  doubly  odious  and  oppressive.  In 
the  second  place  it  showed  that  Congress  was  influenced,  either 
wrongfully  or  otherwise,  to  yield  to  the  money  power,  the  ability  to 
oppress  the  producing  classes  and  tax-paying  population  as  well  as 
the  business  portion  of  the  community,  for  the  benefit  solely  of  cap¬ 
italists  ;  and  also,  by  the  passage  of  the  act,  to  legislate  in  favor  of 
one  class  to  the  injury  of  another,  and,  beyond  other  considerations, 
to  do  these  great  wrongs  contrary  to  and  in  violation  of  their  official 
obligations. 


i5 


In  confirmation  of  these  views  I  will  refer  to  Article  5,  Sec.  8,  of 
the  constitution,  which,  in  defining  the  powers  of  Congress,  says  it 
shall  have  power  “to  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of 
foreign  coin.”  This  is  all  the  power  imparted  to  Congress  in  re¬ 
gard  to  money,  except  in  Sec.  9,  Article  6,  it  is  provided  “that  no 
money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury  but  in  consequence  of  an  ap¬ 
propriation  made  by  law,”  and  in  Sec.  10,  Article  1,  it  is  provided 
that  “no  State  shall  coin  money,  emit  bills  of  credit,  or  make  any¬ 
thing  but  gold  and  silver  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts.”  By  the 
examination  of  these  provisions  it  will  be  seen  the  extent  of  power 
imparted  by  the  constitution  to  Congress.  First,  it  has  the  power  to 
coin  money.  Coining  is  simply  stamping  the  metals,  which  are  al¬ 
ready  money,  and  forming  them  into  convenient  shape  for  circula¬ 
tion, — it  adds  nothing  to,  nor  detracts  anything  from,  its  intrinsic 
worth,  and  is  merely  a  government  certificate  that  it  contains  the 
number  of  grains  of  the  specific  metal  that  the  law  declares  shall 
constitute  a  dime,  dollar,  or  eagle,  and  their  parts.  The  gold  or 
silver  was  just  as  valuable  before  as  after  coining,  and  the  simple 
power  of  coining  money  was  all  that  Congress  could  exercise.  It 
had  no  power  to  make  or  unmake  money.  If  it  could  unmake  silver 
as  money  it  could'  unmake  gold,  the  power  to  abrogate  one  necessa¬ 
rily  carried  with  it  the  power  to  abrogate  both,  and  consequently  it 
would  give  Congress  “the  power  of  impairing  the  obligation  of  con¬ 
tracts,”  which  is  expressly  forbidden,  for  without  legalized  money 
no  contract  could  be  enforced,  and  gold  and  silver  constitute  the 
only  legalized  money  known  by  our  laws,  and  section  ten  of  the  act 
of  Jan.  18,  1837,  says  that  “for  all  sums  whatsoever,  the  eagle  shall 
be  a  legal  tender  of  payment  for  ten  dollars,  the  half  eagle  for  five 
dollars,  and  the  quarter  eagle  for  two  and  a  half  dollars.”  The  na¬ 
tional  stamp  does  not  make  the  dime,  dollar,  or  eagle,  but  simply 
indicates  the  name  of  the  coin  which  the  law  requires  shall  contain 
a  specific  number  of  grains  of  the  metal  that  shall  be  known  as  a 
dime,  dollar,  or  eagle,  which  terms  are  used  for  convenience  in 
commercial  transactions,  and  to  save  dealers  the  necessity  of  test¬ 
ing  both  the  weight  and  quality  of  the  money  used  in  their  daily 
transactions.  If  these  premises  are  well  founded,  then  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  demonetizing  of  silver  was  not  only  a  great 
wrong,  but  was  also  an  unconstitutional  act,  and  that  all  who  par¬ 
ticipated  in  the  ^movement  acted  without  a  due  regard  to  their  offi¬ 
cial  obligations,  or,  at  least,  a  proper  investigation  of  the  subject. 
But  even  if  the  act  is  not  unconstitutional  the  spirit  of  all  just  laws 
is  violated  by  it,  for  all  classes  of  citizens  have  equal  rights  under 
all  well  regulated  and  rightly  organized  governments. 

There  are  at  this  time  two  important  classes  of  laborers  engaged 
in  developing  the  resources  of  our  country,  each  contributing 
about  equally  in  the  result  of  their  labors  to  that  development, 
and  their  united  products  amounting  to  about  one  hundred 
millions  annually.  By  demonetizing  silver  those  employed  in  its 
production  suffered  a  loss  while  it  remained  demonetized,  and  even 
now,  by  the  strange  course  pursued  by  Secretary  Sherman,  contin¬ 
ue  to  suffer  a  loss  of  nearly  or  quite  fifteen  per  cent,  upon  their 


i6 


productions.  From  1873  to  the  present  time  there  has  been  an 
annual  product  of  about  forty-five  millions.  Assuming  that  to  be 
the  true  amount  there  have  been  two  hundred  and  seventy 
millions  of  silver  produced  in  the  last  six  years,  and  fifteen  per 
cent,  on  that  amount  would  be  forty  millions  five  hundred  thous¬ 
and  dollars,  of  which  one  class  has  been  robbed  for  the  benefit  of 
another.  But  the  injury  does  not  end  here,  for  to  the  same  extent, 
or  nearly  so,  that  one  class  has  been  injured  the  other  has  been 
benefited,  for  it  has  operated  as  a  bounty  to  the  producers  of  gold 
to  whatever  extent  gold  as  money  has  been  valued  above  silver  as 
money.  If  the  woolen  manufacturers  had  been  wronged  in  this 
manner,  and  those  of  cotton  had  had  a  bounty  given  them  to  a  like 
extent,  there  would  have  arisen  such  universal  condemnation  of 
Congress  that  everyone  who  had  been  instrumental  in  consummating 
such  an  act  would  have  justly  been  deposed  from  official  position  and 
forever  precluded  from  it  in  future. 

There  is  one  point  partially  connected  with  this  silver  question 
that  I  have  not  seen  alluded  to  in  the  discussion  of  the  subject,  and 
yet  it  is  one  that,  in  my  estimation,  requires  to  be  properly  under¬ 
stood,  and  its  great  wrong  condemned.  I  allude  to  the  issue  of  sub¬ 
sidiary  silver  coin  for  the  redemption  of  fractional  currency.  There 
was  in  circulation,  of  this  currency,  or  supposed  to  be,  about  forty 
millions.  If  one  portion  of  the  national  indebtedness  is  more  sacred 
than  another  it  is  that  which  is  in  the  hands  of  the  laboring,  produc¬ 
ing  classes.  That  class  had  already,  by  the  destruction  of  a  consid¬ 
erable  part  of  this  currency,  lost,  as  is  computed,  about  nine  millions. 
While  the  bond-holders’  indebtedness  was  so  strenuously  sought  to 
be  paid  in  gold  above  its  true  value,  the  payment  to  the  laboring 
classes  was  made  in  a  debased  silver  coin,  about  ten  per  cent,  below 
its  true  value,  coupled  with  the  odious  provision  that  if  he  chanced 
to  owe  a  debt  of  over  five  dollars  he  must  bear  an  additional  loss  of 
ten  per  cent,  to  pay  an  honest  debt.  Could  anything  possibly  be 
more  unjust  ? 

I  have  heretofore  alluded  to  the  views  of  that  distinguished 
statesman,  Hon.  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  regard  to  the  probability  that  at 
no  greatly  remote  period,  the  supremacy  that  England  has  so  long 
enjoyed,  commercially  and  financially,  will  pass  from  that  nation  to 
our  own  ;  and  the  recent  unprecedented  flow  of  coin  to  America  in 
consequence  of  the  convulsions  in  trade  and  the,  short  crops  in 
Europe,  give  possibility  to  the  impression  that  the  event  may  tran¬ 
spire  much  sooner  than  was  anticipated,  even  by  those  who  so  clearly 
perceived  it  in  the  more  remote  future.  It  therefore  appears  to  me 
to  be  the  duty  of  those  American  statesman,  to  whom  the  interests 
of  our  country  are  intrusted,  to  take  all  necessary  steps  to  place  the 
country  in  a  proper  position  to  meet  the  great  responsibilities  that 
such  a  contingency  demands.  In  doing  so  the  errors  of  the  past 
should,  as  far  as  possible,  be  avoided,  and  the  measures  that  experi¬ 
ence  has  proved  to  be  efficacious,  adopted.  China,  Persia,  France, 
Russia,  the  United  States  in  their  struggle  for  freedom,  and  the  Con¬ 
federacy  in  the  late  Rebellion,  have  all  shown  that  a  Fiat  currency 
leads  to  fluctuations  and  absolute  losses  of  such  magnitude  that  it 


i7 


should  be  shunned  as  among  the  greatest  evils  that  attend  the  efforts 
to  establish  a  useful  monetary  system. 

The  Emperor  Won-Ty,  who  reigned  in  China  about  two  thou¬ 
sand  years  since,  had  the  honor,  if  honor  it  may  be  termed,  of  issu¬ 
ing  the  first  fiat  currency,  or  paper  money,  of  which  we  have  any 
record,  and  that  was  a  war  measure  to  carry  on  a  campaign  in  which 
he  was  then  engaged.  But  the  use  of  this  currency  was  of  short 
duration,  and  nothing  further  is  heard  of  paper  money  for  nearly  a 
thousand  years.  Then  merchants  who  made  deposits  of  the  pre¬ 
cious  metals  received  certificates  therefor,  which  could  be  used  in 
commercial  and  other  transactions,  but  failing  to  provide  for  their 
redemption  they  soon  depreciated  in  value  and  became  worthless 
as  Fiat  currency.  About  this  period  near  the  close  of  the  12th  cen¬ 
tury,  the  Italian  Republic,  in  co-operation  with  the  Bank  of  Venice, 
adopted  a  plan  in  some  respects  similar  to  that  of  the  Emperor  of 
China,  making  the  certificates  interest-bearing,  and  always  retaining 
the  coin  for  the  redemption,  and  also  promptly  paying  the  accruing 
interest.  The  Republic  received  the  coins  at  their  intrinsic  value, 
and  gave  certificates  therefor,  bearing  interest  at  the  rate  of  four  per 
cent.  These  certificates  were  recorded  in  books  authenticated  by 
the  government,  and  made  evidences  of  the  amount  of  debt  belong¬ 
ing  to  each  subscriber — the  interest  being  promptly  paid  by  the 
government  into  the  office  and  drawn  out  by  those  entitled  to  receive 
it.  The  capital  was  transferable  with  facility,  and  the  right  of 
receiving  interest  was  bought  up  and  sold  constantly.  This  system 
of  loans  to  the  government  soon  became  a  medium  of  payment  in 
commercial  transactions,  and  was  found  so  valuable  and  economical 
that  a  decree  was  passed,  after  a  trial  of  two  centuries,  that  all  bills 
of  exchange,  either  domestic  or  foreign,  payable  in  Venice  should  be 
paid  in  the  bank,  unless  otherwise  directed.  Those  paying  debts 
carried  money  to  the  bank,  receiving  credit  on  the  books  therefor, 
and  creditors  received  payment  in  bank  by  a  similar  transfer,  and 
parties  changed  their  positions  without  any  actual  payment  of  money. 
These  certificates  bearing  interest,  and  given  for  coin  of  full  weight, 
were  more  valuable  than  coin  in  general  circulation,  because,  in 
many  and  most  instances,  it  had  lost  a  part  of  its  intrinsic  value  by 
abrasion,  sweating,  and  clipping,  and  because  they  could  be  more 
safely  and  cheaply  transferred  than  coin,  in  payment  of  debts,  or  for 
other  purposes.  Venice  was  then  the  chief  commercial  emporium 
of  Europe,  as  England  has  been  of  the  world  for  the  present  century, 
and  the  wealth  of  nations  flowed  to  her  coffers  as  to  those  of  Eng¬ 
land,  and  prospectively  to  America,  and  therefore  it  becomes  the 
more  important  that  a  stable  currency,  of  sufficient  magnitude, 
should  be  provided  that  will  meet  all  the  commercial  and  financial 
demands  that  may  required  at  our  hands. 

The  Venetian  Republic,  profiting  by  the  errors  in  the  plan  of  the 
Emperor  of  China,  adopted  one  by  means  of  which  was  obtained 
an  unfluctuating  currency  for  more  than  four  hundred  years,  and  it 
appears  to  me  that,  by  a  somewhat  similar  process,  we  might  secure 
the  same  result.  If  a  law  should  be  passed  authorizing  the  deposit 
of  coin  in  the  United  States  Treasury,  for  which  certificates  should 


i8 


be  given,  bearing  interest  at  .the  rate  of  three  per  cent.,  redeemable 
in  like  coin  on  demand,  and  convertible  into  bonds  bearing  the  same 
rate  of  interest  at  the  option  of  the  holder,  these  certificates  would 
be  more  valuable  than  coin  because,  while  held,  they  would  bear 
interest  and  would  be  sought  wherever  our  commercial  relations 
extended,  because  they  could  be  more  safely  and  easily  transferred, 
and  would  answer  all  the  purposes  of  coin  where  payments  were 
required.  As  an  encouragement  to  the  laboring  classes  to  adopt 
habits  of  industry  and  economy  these  certificates  should  be  brought 
within  the  reach  of  all,  and  obtainable  for  small  amounts  at  every 
post-office  where  money  orders  are  issued.  The  losses  sustained  by 
these  classes,  through  the  failure  of  savings  banks,  have,  to  some 
extent,  lessened  the  disposition  to  practice  these  cardinal  virtues,  but 
every  effort  should  be  made  to  revive  them  at  the  earliest  possible 
period.  If  a  book  could  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  every  depositor 
of  a  sum  of  one  dollar  or  over  and  under  five  dollars,  the  deposits 
not  drawing  interest  until  they  amounted  to  five  dollars,  the  desire 
to  draw  interest  would  naturally  create  the  disposition  to  make  it 
five  dollars,  and  when  that  amount  was  reached  the  book  account 
should  be  cancelled  and  an  interest-bearing  certificate  issued.  These 
certificates  should,  at  the  option  of  the  depositor,  be  convertible  into 
bonds  bearing  three  per  cent,  interest,  and  redeemable  at  such  times 
as  public  interest  dictated.  There  is  a  widely  extended  practice 
of  giving  birthday  presents,  of  worthless  trinkets,  to  children,  which 
might  be  amended  by  bestowing,  instead,  one  of  these  certificates, 
which  would  superinduce  a  general  disposition  to  form  habits  of  the 
utmost  importance  in  future  life.  The  effect  of  issuing  these  certifi¬ 
cates  would  be  most  salutary  and  tend  to  create  habits  in  all  classes 
that  would  lead  to  prosperity  as  a  nation.  It  would  ultimately,  and 
at  an  early  period,  reduce  the  interest  on  the  national  debt  to  three 
instead  of  four  or  a  higher  rate  of  interest  ;  and  as  the  rate  of  inter¬ 
est  on  the  national  debt  was  decreased,  capitalists  would  be  induced 
to  invest  their  money  in  mechanical  and  manufacturing  enterprises 
at  a  less  rate  of  interest  than  they  have  heretofore  been  willing  to 
accept.  One  of  the  great  impediments  that  our  manufacturers  have 
encountered  in  the  past,  in  their  efforts  to  compete  with  other 
nations,  has  been  the  high  rate  of  interest  that  capital  commanded. 
As  the  rate  of  interest  on  our  national  indebtedness  has  been  so 
materially  reduced,  this  impediment  has,  to  a  great  extent,  been 
removed. 

If  the  plan,  I  have  alluded  to,  should  be  adopted  and  an  un¬ 
fluctuating  circulating  medium  secured,  the  tendency  will  be  to 
gradually  withdraw  a  large  amount  of  capital  now  employed  in  the 
immoral  practices  of  stock-jobbing  and  ring  speculations  and  divert¬ 
ing  it  to  useful  channels.  Fluctuations  in  the  circulating  medium 
necessarily  beget  fluctuations  in  prices  of  commodities  and  render 
it  difficult  for  all  classes  to  form  correct  and  reliable  estimates  of 
the  relative  value  of  labor  or  its  products.  But  when  values  are 
stable  and  all  things  are  estimated  according  to  their  real  worth  they 
soon  cease  to  be  sought  for  speculative  purposes,  and  are  bought 


!9 


and  sold  at  their  true  worth.  That  fluctuations  in  the  price  of  com¬ 
modities,  will  to  some  extent,  always  exist  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
but  these  arise  from  over  production,  or  failure  to  produce  enough 
to  meet  the  wants  and  necessities  of  the  people,  and  are  generally 
attributable  to  causes  over  which  man  has  no  control.  The  stock- 
jobbing  and  ring  speculations  however,  by  which  the  Vanderbilts 
and  Goulds  and  their  class  realize  millions  in  a  day,  do  not  result 
from  any  similar  cause.  The  stocks  bought  and  sold  are  in¬ 
trinsically  worth  the  same,  before  as  after  the  transfer.  Not  a  cent 
is  added  to  their  true  value  by  the  operation ;  some  one  loses  all  that 
another  makes.  The  amount  of  money  employed  in  these  transac¬ 
tions  is  very  great,  and  is  diverted  from  a  useful  purpose  to  one  that 
is  morally  injurious.  If  it  is  not  stealing,  it  is  nearly  allied  to  it,  for 
it  results  in  taking  one  man’s  money  from  him  and  giving  it  to  an¬ 
other  without  any  adequate  or  just  compensation.  For  the  supre¬ 
macy  which  England  has  so  long  enjoyed,  financially  and  com¬ 
mercially  she  is  indebted  to  her  Watts  and  Arkwrights,  more,  a 
hundred  times  more,  than  to  all  the  kings  and  queens  from  Alfred 
the  most  worthy  to  Victoria  the  most  virtuous.  These  kings  and 
queens  have  been  impediments,  rather  than  aids,  for  they  have  largely 
consumed  the  products  of  labor  without  any  adequate  return  for 
what  they  have  received  ;  and  have  been  the  procuring  cause  of  all 
the  wars  and  the  destruction  of  lives  and  property,  that  these  wars 
have  produced  and  the  immense  debts  that  now  weigh  so  heavily 
upon  the  nation.  America  has  her  Watts,  and  Arkwrights,  in  pro¬ 
fusion,  but  we  have  neither  kings,  queens,  lords,  dukes,  nor  any 
titled  nobility,  by  which  classes  are  formed  to  feast  and  fatten  upon 
the  earnings  of  the  toiling  millions,  nor  can  we  ever  have  as  a  nation 
while  our  glorious  constitution  and  bill  of  rights  remain  unimpaired. 

It  is  sometimes  asserted  that  the  present  owners  of  bonds  do  not 
occupy  the  position  of  those  to  whom  the  bonds  were  originally 
issued,  and  that,  as  innocent  holders,  they  have  superior  rights.  To 
me  it  appears  these  views  are  incorrect.  The  facts  in  regard  to  their 
issue  were  fully  known  to  all  the  world  and  those  who  purchase 
them  now  are  as  well  informed  on  the  subject  as  the  original  owner 
— and  being  so  informed  they  have  no  superior  rights  to  those  en¬ 
joyed  by  the  person  to  whom  they  were  issued.  They  know  however 
that  the  bonds  were  given  for  a  specific  number  of  dollars,  which  the 
parties  recognized  as  the  value  of  the  articles  for  which  the  bonds 
were  given  and  the  contract  can  only  be  fulfilled  by  the  payment  in 
accordance  with  its  terms,  and  having  full  confidence  in  the  ability 
and  disposition  of  the  government  to  fulfill  its  agreement,  the  bonds 
are  eagerly  sought  as  the  safest  investment  that  can  be  made  of 
their  money. 

There  is  one  fact  connected  with  the  propriety  of  adopting  a 
gold  basis  as  the  circulating  medium,  which  to  me  is  perfectly  inex¬ 
plicable.  There  are  men  in  whose  honesty  and  judgment  I  have 
implicit  confidence,  and  to  whose  judgment  I  should  usually  defer, 
who  think  that  a  mono-metallic  currency  of  gold  is  that  which 
should  be  adopted.  It  appears  to  me  that  I  have  fully  shown  that 


20 


both  gold  and  silver  are  money ;  that  they  have  been  so  received  in 
all  ages;  that  all  values  are  based  on  this  fact;  that  all  contracts 
for  the  payment  of  debts,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  can  only  be  ful¬ 
filled  by  the  payment  of  as  many  grains  of  gold  or  silver  as  the  laws 
of  the  country  require  to  constitute  a  dollar,  franc,  pound,  rouble  or 
ducat,  and  not  otherwise,  unless  specifically  provided  ;  that  there  is 
not  enough  gold  and  silver  combined  to  supply  the  financial  neces¬ 
sities  of  the  world,  and  that  if  a  mono-metallic  basis  was  adopted, 
it  would  double  the  value  of  the  one  so  adopted,  and  render  the 
other  a  commodity,  subject  to  constant  changes  in  value,  bene¬ 
fiting  the  speculator,  but  injuring  all  other  classes  ;  that  it  would 
necessitate  the  constant  issue  of  a  paper  circulation,  that  could  not 
be  based  on  a  metallic  basis,  and  consequently  one  subject  to  fluc¬ 
tuations,  which  should  be  avoided  as  far  as  possible,  according  to 
Mr.  McCulloch’s  views  of  what  constitutes  money. 

While  England  supplied  various  nations  with  manufactures  of 
her  own  fabric,  she  had  the  power  to  adopt  a  gold  standard,  but  as  soon 
as  she  ceased  the  supply  of  those  fabrics,  the  precious  metals  began  to 
be  estimated  according  to  their  intrinsic  worth  in  other  nations, 
where  both  were  used  as  money,  or  where  silver  constituted  the  legal 
tender  currency.  Silver  is  mainly  an  American  product,  and  it  is 
peculiarly  the  interest  of  the  American  people  that  it  should  be  es¬ 
timated  according  to  its  true  relative  intrinsic  worth.  I  have  here¬ 
tofore  shown  how  much  one  important  class  of  our  American  peo¬ 
ple  has  been,  and  is  still,  injured  by  the  attempt  to  establish  a  gold 
standard,  but  if  silver  should  continue  to  be  under-estimated  by  Euro¬ 
pean  influence,  and  for  European  interest,  the  entire  nation  would 
be  injured  as  long  as  such  relative  value  continued  the  basis  by 
which  the  precious  metals  were  estimated. 

It  is  considered  by  some  that  the  present  great  flow  of  coin  to 
America  will  prove  as  disastrous  to  this  country,  as  did 
the  sudden  introduction  of  the  thousand  millions  which  Ger¬ 
many  received  from  France,  but  I  think  that  those  who 
entertain  such  views,  have  not  bestowed  as  much  thought 
upon  the  subject  as  they  should  to  enable  them  to  form  a  correct 
judgment.  This  sudden  introduction  of  so  vast  an  amount  as  a 
thousand  millions  into  Germany,  was  more  like  the  bursting  of  an 
impending  surcharged  cloud,  or  the  breaking  of  an  embankment,  that 
suddenly  let  forth  an  overwhelming  flood,  sweeping  away  all  within 
its  reach  ;  but  the  gradual  flow  of  coin  to  this  country,  in  such 
amounts  as  are  now  arriving,  together  with  that  obtained  from  our 
own  mines,  is  like  the  constantly  flowing  stream  that  irrigates  and 
benefits  all  that  would  otherwise  dry  and  wither,  and  fail  to  bring 
forth  its  hundred  fold.  Its  only  effect  will  be  to  enable  America, 
perhaps  at  an  earlier  period  than  otherwise,  in  establishing  an  un¬ 
fluctuating  currency,  founded  upon  a  bi-metallic  basis,  that  will  re¬ 
main  secure  as  long  as  this  country  shall  occupy  the  position  which 
now  appears  her  destiny. 

In  speaking  of  England  it  is  far  from  my  purpose  to  say  aught 
disparaging  of  her  people.  It  would  be  as  base  to  do  so  as  to 


21 


defame  the  reputation,  wrongfully,  of  those  to  whom  we  owe  our 
existence.  Among  her  offspring  there  are  many  of  the  noblest  and 
purest  that  ever  trod  the  earth’s  broad  surface,  with  whom  we  could 
proudly  claim  affinity.  She  had  had  her  Wilberforces  and  her 
Hampdens,  her  Bacons  and  her  Harniltons,  her  Miltons  and  her 
Shakspeares,  her  Wrens,  her  Watts  and  her  Arkwrights,  her  Carys 
and  Bunyans,  whose  steps  have  been  followed  by  her  Whitfields, 
her  Summerfields,  her  Hills,  and  her  Spurgeons,  and  a  host  of 
others  worthy  of  all  commendation.  She  has,  indeed,  as  a  nation, 
advanced  one  step  towards  a  mitigation  of  the  great  evils  of  a  purely 
monarchical  government,  by  securing  her  glorious  magna  charta,  but 
she  halted  in  her  progress  toward  obtaining  a  full  recognition  of  the 
rights  of  the  governed  ;  but  this  progress  in  past  ages  gives  hope 
that,  at  no  remote  day,  the  equal  rights  of  all  will  be  recognized, 
and  that  each  will  stand  up  as  the  peer  of  his  fellow  man,  despite 
the  now  titled  nobility  that  often  show  the  degraded  man,  disgracing 
the  title  he  so  falsely  bears,  and  to  whom  the  more  worthy  are  com¬ 
pelled  to  yield  reverence.  But  it  is  in  condemnation  of  the  govern¬ 
ment  as  now  organized,  and  with  the  course  it  all  ages  arrayed  in 
that  Might  that  has  enabled  it,  for  centuries,  to  trample  upon 
the  right  of  all  over  whom  she  had  control,  that  I  complain. 
She  drove  forth  the  purest  of  her  children,  like  an  unnatural 
mother,  from  homes  to  the  wilds  of  America  because  they  desired 
to  follow  the  promptings  of  an  enlightened  conscience.  She  sent 
forth  her  armies  and  her  navies  to  destroy  and  murder  these  unof¬ 
fending  people,  because  they  refused  to  contribute  to  the  support  of 
a  nation  that  ruled  them  wrongfully;  and  would  not  allow  them  a 
voice  in  making  the  laws  by  which  they  were  to  be  governed.  She 
imposed  that  great  curse  of  Slavery  on  a  people  on  whose  just  rights 
she  had  thus  trampled,  and  afterwards  reproached  them  for  the  exist- 
ance  of  an  evil  that  her  own  cupidity  had  originated — an  evil  the 
suppression  of  which  has  been  obtained  by  the  loss  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  lives,  the  noblest  and  best  of  the  land,  and  the  waste 
of  thousands  of  millions  of  the  hard  earned  wealth  of  the  toiling 
people,  that  will  require  generations  to  repay  ;  and  this  war,  while  so 
afflictive  and  mournful  in  i'ts  progress,  has  entailed  evils  of  such 
magnitude  and  so  pervading  that  it  would  require  a  more  graphic 
pen  than  I  can  wield  to  portray  them.  But  the  wrongs  that  we  have 
suffered  from  her  government  have  been  meted  out  to  all  over  whom 
her  Might  has  given  her  control.  The  opium  traffic  which  she 
imposed  upon  China,  by  which  her  people  have  been  debased,  ener¬ 
vated,  and,  to  some  extent,  brutalized,  was  an  act  by  a  so-called 
Christian  nation,  that  it  might  realize,  as  a  Japanese  writer  of  merit 
estimates,  sixty  millions  annually!!  That  same  Japanese  writer, 
Matsuama  Makoto,  holds  up  to  view  the  course  pursued  by  the  Eng¬ 
lish  government  in  regard  to  Japan,  in  a  light  that  should  cause  the 
blush  of  shame  to  mantle  the  cheek  of  every  upright  Englishman, 
and  I  commend  his  article,  published  in  the  November  and  Decem¬ 
ber  numbers  of  the  North  American  Review ,  to  every  thoughtful 
mind.  Not  only  does  England  persist  in  enforcing  stipulations  in 


22 


regard  to  commerce,  that  Japan  had  been  compelled  to  adopt,  which 
are  so  injurious  in  their  operation  as  to  threaten  the  prosperity,  if 
not  the  national  existence,  of  this  empire,  now  struggling  for  recog¬ 
nition  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  which  for  so  many  ages  she 
denied  them.  The  course  that  England  pursued  in  the  long  ago , 
when  desirous  of  securing  a  maritime  superiority,  in  destroying  the 
Danish  fleet  at  the  battle  of  Copenhagen,  stands  in  such  striking 
contrast  to  that  of  the  Grecian  Republic  that  it  deserves  to  be  men¬ 
tioned  as  showing  the  difference  between  monarchical  and  republi¬ 
can  governments.  On  a  certain  day,  Themistocles,  who  was  not 
over-scrupulous  in  the  choice  of  his  measures,  declared  in  a  full 
assembly  of  the  people  that  he  had  planned  a  very  important  design, 
but  that  he  could  not  communicate  it  to  the  people  because,  in  order 
to  insure  success,  it  was  necessary  that  it  should  be  carried  on  with 
the  greatest  secresy.  He  thereupon  desired  they  would  appoint  a 
person  to  whom  he  could  explain  himself  upon  the  matter.  Aris¬ 
tides  was  unanimously  pitched  upon  by  the  whole  assembly,  and 
they  referred  themselves  entirely  to  his  opinion  of  the  affair.  Them¬ 
istocles  therefore,  having  taken  him  aside,  told  him  the  design  he 
had  conceived  was  to  burn  the  fleet  belonging  to  the  rest  of  the 
Grecian  States,  which  then  lay  in  a  neighboring  port,  and  that  by 
this  means  Athens  would  certainly  become  mistress  of  all  Greece. 
Aristides  thereupon  returned  to  the  assembly  and  only  declared  to 
them,  that  indeed  nothing  could  be  more  advantageous  to  the  com¬ 
monwealth  than  Themistocles’  project,  but  that,  at  the  same  time, 
nothing  could  be  more  unjust.  All  the  people  unanimously  ordained 
that  Themistocles  should  entirely  desist  from  his  project. 

The  history  of  the  world  has  never  shown  that  monarchical 
governments  have  acted  upon  principles  of  right  and  justice  where 
their  own  interests  could  be  advanced  by  disregarding  their  voice. 

The  course  pursued  by  the  present  administration  in  refusing  to 
listen  to  the  voice  of  justice  and  the  interests  of  the  people  on 
the  monetary  question,  is  the  only  barrier  that  can  possibly  be  pre¬ 
sented  to  prevent  an  overwhelming  victory  to  the  Republican  party. 
It  is  the  all  important  question  for  the  American  nation  to  decide  at 
this  peculiar  crisis  in  our  history,  and  should  never  have  been  made 
a  partisan  one.  Incomprehensible  as  it  appears  to  me  as  can  be  the 
reasonings  of  those  who  honestly  believe  that  a  gold  basis  is  that 
upon  which  the  commercial  transactions  of  the  world  should  be 
established,  yet  I  am  fully  convinced  that  honest  and  patriotic  men 
entertain  the  belief,  and  therefore  I  would  not  impute  dishonesty  of 
purpose  to  any  one,  nor  too  strongly  condemn  the  persistent  manner 
pursued  by  the  President  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  on  this 
question,  but  the  already  expressed  voice  of  the  people  on  it  render 
it  certain  that  should  Secretary  Sherman  be  nominated  for  the  presi¬ 
dency  at  the  ensuing  election,  defeat  would  be  the  result,  unless,  like 
his  predecessor,  he  should  candidly  and  fully  acknowledge  a  change 
in  his  views  and  promise  a  totally  different  course  in  the  future. 
That  he  is,  in  many  respects,  entitled  to  great  credit  for  the  manage¬ 
ment  of  his  department  none  will  deny,  but  that  the  restoration  to 
specie  payment  is  mainly  attributable  to  other  influences  than  his 


23 


management  I  think  is  clearly  to  be  seen.  The  short  crops  in 
Europe,  the  transfer  from  England  to  the  United  States  of  the 
manufacture  of  many  of  the  articles  of  prime  necessity,  the  con¬ 
fusion  incident  to  such  changed  relations  in  England,  the  throw¬ 
ing  out  of  employment  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  manufacturers, 
the  disastrous  consequences  to  the  tillers  of  the  soil  resulting  from 
the  low  price  of  their  agricultural  products  and  the  high  rentals  of 
the  land  they  till;  the  vast  expenses  of  Europe  incidental  to  the 
recent  wars,  and  the  withdrawal  from  productive  employment  of  the 
millions  engaged  in  those  wars,  have  combined  to  bring  to  us  hun¬ 
dreds,  I  might  say  thousands,  of  millions  within  a  few  years  which, 
together  with  the  products  of  our  mines,  have  done  vastly  more  than 
all  that  Secretary  Sherman  has  performed  to  bring  about  the  desira¬ 
ble  result.  Speculations  are  sometimes  indulged  of  what  might  have 
been  if  the  administration  had  been  heartily  in  favor  of  a  bi-metallic 
currency,  but  such  speculations  are  useless  and  might  be  illusory;  let 
thoughts  now  be  turned  to  what  may  be  if  the  rights  and  interests  of 
the  people,  instead  of  the  interests  of  the  money  power,  shall  be 
adopted,  and  it  will  soon  be  manifest  in  what  manner  the  interests 
and  prosperity  of  the  people  are  to  be  promoted.  We  already  see 
indications  of  the  result  of  a  Bi-metallic  currency  in  the  awakened 
and  improving  business  transactions  of  the  country  that  give  prom¬ 
ise  of  what  the  future  will  be  if  fully  secured  and  maintained. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  great  increase  in  the  production  of  gold 
and  silver  within  the  last  few  centuries,  and  whether  it  indicates  the 
near  approach  of  the  period  when  “for  brass  will  be  bought  gold, 
“  and  for  iron,  silver  ;  and  for  wood,  brass  ;  and  for  stones,  iron  ; 
“  and  when  violence  shall  be  no  more  heard  in  the  land  nor  waiting 
“within  thy  borders,”  or  not  I  leave  for  others  to  determine.  By  a 
recent  article  in  an  English  paper,  speaking  of  the  destructive  power 
of  Mr.  Krupp’s  lately  built  steel  cannon,  I  notice  that  the  idea  is 
suggested  that  it  will  add  so  greatly  to  the  ability  of  nations  to 
destroy  each  other  that  it  may  lead  to  a  different  arbitrament  than 
that  now  adopted  for  the  settlement  of  monarchical  controversies, 
and  that  possibly  the  time  is  approaching  when  nations  “  shall  beat 
“  their  swords  into  ploughshares,  and  their  spears  into  pruning  hooks  ; 
“  nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall  they 
learn  war  any  more.”  It  appears  to  me  that  torpedo  vessels  will  yet 
be  so  constructed  as  to  give  them  great  speed,  and  capacity  to 
destroy  the  mightiest  iron-clad  ever  launched  upon  the  ocean,  sweep¬ 
ing  away  in  a  'moment  these  mighty  leviathans  and  all  that  they 
contain  ;  so  that  the  weak  nations  of  the  earth  may  cope  with  the 
mightiest  naval  powers  that  now  rule  the  waves — and  if  so  another 
reason  will  appear  why  nations  should  not  learn  war  any  more. 

But  it  appears  to  me  there  must  be  a  great  change  in  the  moral 
sentiments  and  practices  of  the  American  people  before  we  can  be 
partakers  in,  or  aid  in  producing  an  era  so  desirable  and  beneficent. 
The  greed  of  wealth  must  be  greatly  modified,  laws  must  not  be 
administered  to  screen  the  guilty,  nor  judicial  position  sought  and 
obtained  by  catering  to  communism,  socialism,  and  other  errors  that 
European  wrongs  have  begotten  and  caused  the  sufferers  to  flee 


24 


their  fatherland  that  they  may  here  enjoy  what  in  their  own  country 
they  were  deprived  off.  All  tramps,  vagrants,  and  drones  should  be 
compelled  to  engage  in  some  useful  employment — if  they  would  not 
work,  neither  should  they  eat.  Unjust  laws,  if  any  exist,  should  be 
repealed ;  just  laws  should  be  rigidly  enforced ;  official  position 
obtained,  not  by  being  sought  as  means  of  acquiring  wealth  by  rob¬ 
bing  the  people,  but  the  people  should  elect  honest  men,  capable 
and  worthy  to  fill  all  places  under  our  government  where  honesty 
and  capacity  is  required.  The  frequent  changes  of  our  national 
rulers  is,  in  my  opinion,  an  evil  that  should  be  modified,  and  but  one 
term  allowed  to  any  President ;  and  officers  occupying  any  official 
position  should  be  appointed  for  a  specific  time  and  never  deposed 
except  for  inefficiency  or  non-performance  of  duty. 

I  have  heretofore  spoken  of  the  cost  and  extent  of  our  railroads, 
not  because  the  money  was  ill-spent,  or  the  expenditure  unnecessary, 
but  simply  to  show  the  increased  cost  consequent  upon  the  use  of  a 
fiat  currency,  or  one  based  upon  a  fluctuating  circulating  medium. 
Railroads  are  to  the  naiion  what  nerves  are  to  the  physical  system, 
and  our  two  large  streams,  with  their  branches,  are  like  the  arterial 
and  venous  parts  of  the  same  organization.  In  the  future,  when 
the  entire  northern  portion  of  America  shall  become  one  great  and 
mighty  republic,  because  the  mutual  interests  of  all  its  parts  will  ulti¬ 
mately  be  promoted  and  advanced  by  such  union,  and  because 
these  same  railroads  and  water-communications  will  conduce  to  the 
action  and  healthy  exercise  of  the  whole  body,  invigorating  and 
strengthening  to  their  utmost  extremities,  those  parts  that  would  oth¬ 
erwise  be  dormant  or  paralyzed.  It  is  as  necessary  that  the  St.  Law¬ 
rence  should  be  used,  throughout  its  entire  length,  as  a  common 
thoroughfare,  during  a  great  part  of  the  year,  for  transporting  the 
productions  of  the  great  West  to  their  destined  market,  as  that  the 
Mississippi  should  in  a  like  manner  be  used  through  another  por¬ 
tion  of  the  year,  for  the  welfare  of  the  same  region,  and  it  is  equally 
necessary  that  both  should  be  unitedly  employed,  as  it  is  that  both 
parts  of  the  human  frame  should  act  in  co-operation  with  each  other 
to  render  it  most  efficient  in  the  performance  of  the  functions  for 
which  it  was  intended.  Great  fears  were  formerly  entertained  that 
railroad  combinations  would  become  so  extensive,  and  charges  so 
onerous  and  oppressive  as  to  place  the  business  interests  of  the 
nation  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  these  soulless  corporations,  and  until 
the  decision  that  States  can  control  and  regulate  the  charges,  over¬ 
turned  the  vested-right  view  of  the  question,  these  views  appeared 
well-founded,  but  now  there  is  lithe  dread  that  serious  injury  will  re¬ 
sult  from  their  widely-extended  construction,  or  combined  influences 
to  obtain  extortionate  charges. 

The  people  and  territory  of  Canada  are  so  situated  that  there 
are  the  strongest  reasons  why  both  they  and  the  United  States  should 
form  one  government.  The  ruling  portion  of  each  are  from  a  com¬ 
mon  stock,  and  are  swayed  and  controlled  by  similar  motives  and 
purposes.  The  people  of  the  United  States  in  the  formation  of 
their  government,  having  experienced  the  evils  of  a  monarchical 
rule,  provided  in  the  constitution  against  entailed  estates  and  titled 


25 


nobility,  by  abolishing  all  rights  of  primogeniture  and  forever  pro¬ 
hibiting  titles  of  nobility  ;  extending  to  all  the  people  equal  rights, 
and  endowing  them  with  that  of  a  popular  or  national  government. 
The  English  government  was  organized  upon  a  wholly  different 
principle.  The  elelementary  assemblage  was  the  family,  and  the 
aggregation  of  families  was  the  tribes,  and  the  aggregation  of  the 
tribes  constituted  the  nation  ;  and  English  sentiments  are  mainly 
governed  at  present  by  the  views  originally  entertained  in  the  forma¬ 
tion  of  their  government.  Under  that  of  the  United  States  every 
individual,  with  but  a  little  effort,  may  become  his  own  landlord  ; 
the  owner  of  a  freehold  is  his  own  employer,  and  can  devote  all  his 
energies  to  the  promotion  of  his  own  and  his  family’s  welfare.  Not 
so  in  England.  I  do  not  propose  to  enter  upon  a  history  of  the 
wrongs  and  sufferings  entailed  upon  the  peasantry  of  that  country, 
but  simply  to  state  a  few  facts  in  regard  to  the  landed  estates  of  the 
United  Kingdom.  There  are  525  dukes,  marquises,  earls,  viscounts, 
and  barons,  who  own  1,593  separate  landed  estates,  comprising  15,- 
303,163  acres,  bringing  an  annual  rental  of  $62,445,340.  The  entire 
area  of  the  whole  country  is  72,1 17,766  acres.  The  entire  landed 
gentry  is  estimated  to  be  about  7,000,  though  it  may  exceed  that 
number,  and  they  possess  more  than  fifty-two  millions  out  of  seventy- 
two  million  acres  comprising  the  kingdom.  This  comparatively 
insignificant  number  of  7,000  are  in  possession  of  the  lands,  not  in 
their  individual  character  but  as  representatives  of  families,  thus 
showing  how  perfectly  aristocratic  the  government  of  England  has 
become,  and  how  fully  it  exemplifies  the  fact  that  it  is  a  government 
organized  for  the  benefit  of  the  “  governors  and  not  of  the  governed.’’ 
I  might  follow  out  the  evils  resulting  from  a  government  established 
upon  the  principles  that  dominate  in  England,  but  it  would  require 
more  space  than  I  can  occupy,  and  I  leave  it  by  only  adding  that 
nearly  all  the  taxation  falls  upon  the  producing  classes  and  not  upon 
the  landed  gentry,  and  I  have  presented  these  facts  to  show  that  the 
people  of  Canada  have  little  to  bind  them  to  the  mother  country  or 
any  of  its  institutions.  It  is  a  common  observation  by  natives  of 
Canada,  who  have  taken  up  their  homes  in  the  United  States,  to  say 
that  their  laws  are  better,  and  that  they  have  greater  liberty  than  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  Allowing  that  the  laws  are  better 
observed  does  that  afford  any  argument  against  a  union  ?  As  integral 
parts  of  the  nation  would  they  not,  as  States,  enjoy  all  the  liberties 
they  now  do?  In  all  international  questions  they  are  subject  to  a 
national  control  in  which  they  have  no  voice.  As  an  integral  part 
of  the  Union  they  would  not  be  abridged  of  any  right  and  they 
would  have  a  voice  on  all  questions  of  that  character,  equal  at  least 
to  their  relative  population.  The  very  fact,  however,  that  they  have 
left  their  native  land  to  become  citizens  of  the  United  States  shows 
that  they  enjoy  privileges  here  that  were  beyond  their  attainment  in 
Canada,  and  is  all  the  answer  that  should  be  given  to  those  who 
advance  these  views,  to  show  how  groundless  they  are. 

The  territorial  boundaries  of  Canada  are  stretched  from  New¬ 
foundland  to  the  Pacific,  a  distance  of  nearly  four  thousand  miles. 
For  the  greater  part  of  that  distance  they  are  conterminous  to  those 


2  6 


of  the  United  States,  and  in  case  separate  governments  exist  would 
require  a  cordon  of  custom  officers  from  one  extreme  to  the  other,  at 
a  great  unnecessary  expense.  The  entire  population  of  Canada  is 
now  .about  four  millions;  giving  Ontario  nearly  two  millions,  Quebec  a 
little  over  one  million,  Halifax  and  New  Brunswick  about  sixty  thou¬ 
sand,  and  to  British  Columbia,  Manitoba,  and  Northwest  Territory  in 
the  vicinity  of  three  hundred  thousand,  and  is  all  embraced  within  a 
narrow  strip,  on  an  average  not  extending  over  two  hundred  miles  in 
width.  The  interests  of  those  lying  east  of  Lake  Superior  are  diverse 
and  are  wholly  separated  from  those  west  of  that  body  fully  six 
months  in  a  year,  and  can  not  be  reached  except,  passing  through 
the  almost  impenetrable  Hyperborean  region  lying  north  of  that 
lake,  or  through  the  United  States,  subject  to  such  restrictions  as 
would  naturally  arise  between  nations  possessing  different  interests, 
but  not  where  the  interests  were  united.  The  interests  of  those 
residing  in  Halifax  and  Newfoundland  are  so  different  from  those 
bordering  on  the  Pacific  that  they  could  not  be  drawn  together  by 
the  iron  ties  that  would  ordinarily  unite  them.  For  six  months  in 
the  year  they  would  be  congealed  and  lifeless  and  it  would  take  a 
greater  warmth  than  that  northern  clime  can  generate  to  weld  them 
again  ;  so  that  they  would  either  be  compelled  to  create  a  mart  on 
the  Pacific  in  their  own  territory  or  seek  one  already  made  in  a 
neighboring  one. 

Perhaps  the  strongest  reason  why  there  should  not  be  divided 
national  interests  bounded  by  the  St.  Lawrence  is  that  neither 
nation  would  be  willing  to  risk  their  manufacturing  interests  upon 
border  territory.  The  Niagara  River  from  the  falls  to  Lewiston,  if  a 
canal  was  constructed  on  both  sides,  would  supply  power  enough 
to  propel,  at  a  trifling  expense,  and  in  the  most  secure  manner  pos¬ 
sible,  all  the  manufactories  necessary  to  fabricate  the  articles  required 
by  the  world  for  centuries  to  come.  The  water  falling  150  feet  from  a 
very  small  opening  would  turn  a  shaft  extending  back  hundreds  if  not 
thousands  of  feet,  and  upwards  and  downwards  in  as  many  stories 
as  it  would  be  desirable  to  build  or  excavate — and  at  the  same  time 
supply  power  to  put  Edison’s  electric  lamps  in  operation  to  light 
them ;  and  if  more  water  power  should  be  required  it  could  be 
found  from  the  Gallop  rapids  just  below  Ogdensburgh,  through  the 
Long  Sault  and  Coteau  du  Lac  and  Lachine  to  Montreal,  a  distance 
of  some  seventy  miles,  a  large  portion  of  the  way  affording  water¬ 
power  of  great  value  and  importance.  The  rapid  advance,  in  the 
settlement  of  this  portion  of  our  country,  that  would  result  from  the 
establishment  of  these  manufactories  is  almost  beyond  estimate  and 
it  can  never  take  place  while  two  nations  allow  it  to  remain  the 
boundary  between  them. 

In  regard  to  the  future  of  England,  it  appears  to  me  impossible 
that  even  her  great  wealth  will  enable  her  to  retain  for  many  years 
the  position  she  now  occupies ;  her  vast  provincial  possessions  are 
not  bound  to  her  by  any  ties  of  common  interest,  her  manufactur¬ 
ing  and  agricultural  population  can  not  successfully  prosecute  their 
vocations,  fettered  as  they  are  by  landed  interests,  and  foreign  com¬ 
petition  having  superior  advantages,  and  being  the  sole  producers 


27 


of  wealth  and  so  circumscribed  in  ability  that  they  can  barely  earn 
enough  to  keep  starvation  from  their  doors.  The  enormous  national 
expenditures  required  to  keep  up  their  position  as  a  ruling  power 
in  Europe  will  rapidly  consume  her  great  wealth  and  soon  compel 
her  to  adopt  a  different  form  of  government  or  sink  to  an  insignifi¬ 
cant  power.  If  she  would  heed  the  voice  of  her  Gladstones,  her 
Arnolds,  her  Rogers  and  her  Froudes,  instead  of  Beaconfield  and  his 
compeers,  there  might  still  be  hope,  but  the  pride  and  obstinacy  of 
her  ruling  powers  and  her  aristocracy  will  never  yield  until,  as  a 
nation,  she  has  paid  the  penalty  that  Rome,  Holland,  Genoa,  and 
others  have  brought  upon  themselves  in  past  ages.  I  have  not  re¬ 
ferred  to  the  position  occupied  by  Canada,  and  the  propriety  and 
benefit  she  would  receive  by  becoming  an  integral  part  of  the 
government  of  the  United  State,  because  it  is  necessary  to  the 
prosperity  of  our  government;  for  instead  of  the  St.  Lawrence  as  an 
outlet  for  our  commerce,  the  New  York  canals  could  be  enlarged, 
either  from  Oswego  or  Whitehall,  so  that  the  St.  Lawrence  would 
not  be  an  absolute  necessity  as  a  channel  of  commerce  for  the  great 
West  to  reach  the  Atlantic.  The  construction  of  the  Darien  canal, 
when  completed  by  American  interests  will  tend  to  a  union  of  Cen¬ 
tral  America  and  Mexico  with  the  United  States,  as  soon  as  those 
portions  of  America  are  qualified  to  participate  in  the  advantages 
of  a  rightly  organized  Republican  government,  and  probably  Cuba, 
St.  Domingo,  Hayti,  Jamaica,  Porto  Rico  and  other  islands  of  the 
Caribbean  Sea  will  follow  in  due  time.  WThether  the  opening  of  the 
Suez  Canal  and  the  construction  of  the  Darien  will  so  affect  the 
currents  of  the  Oceans  as  to  materially  change  the  climate  of  Europe 
is  yet  to  be  seen,  though  some  suppose  the  opening  of  the  Suez  has 
already  affected  it. 

I  am  not  so  unwise  as  to  suppose  that  what  I  have  heretofore 
said  on  the  monetary  question  will  have  any  weight  with  that  class  who 
desire  that  capital  should  control  labor,  or  that  what  I  now  express 
will  in  any  respect  change  the  action  of  that  class  of  the  American 
people  ;  but  I  desire  to  place  these  thoughts  before  my  countrymen 
for  their  calm  and  serious  consideration,  and  if  upon  such  reflection 
they  shall  deem  them  calculated  to  promote  their  prosperity  and 
welfare,  adopt  them.  In  doing  this  I  have  only  done  what  I  deem 
that  my  duty  to  my  country  and  my  race  demanded  at  my  hands. 
If  in  any  thing  I  have  erred,  that  error  has  originated  from  a  desire 
to  benefit  my  race.  I  have  not  as  fully  elaborated  the  thoughts  sug¬ 
gested  as  might  have  been  done  to  render  them  more  lucid,  nor  ex¬ 
tended  them  to  points  that  would  probably  have  rendered  them 
more  convincing,  but  they  have  already  occupied  much  more  space 
than  it  was  originally  my  purpose  to  extend  them  and  I  therefore 
bring  them  to  a  close. 

I  have  shown  or  attempted  to  show,  that  gold  and  silver  alone 
possess  the  requisites  to  constitute' money,  and  that  no  other  known 
commodity  does;  that  both  have  in  all  ages,  and  among  all  civilized 
nations,  been  received  and  accepted  as  such ;  that  there  is  not 
enough  of  either  or  both  united  to  meet  the  wants  and  necessities  of 
mankind  in  their  commercial  and  financial  relations ;  that  both  the 


28 


gold  and  silver,  used  as  money,  do  not  amount  to  enough  to  pay  the 
interest  on  national,  State,  municipal  and  corporate  indebtedness  for 
only  two  years,  and  only  for  one  year,  if,  as  I  believe,  the  views  of 
English  statisticians  shall  prove  correct  as  to  the  amount,  viz.:  that 
$4,000,000,000  is  all  the  gold  and  silver  used  as  currency  in  the  world. 
I  have  likewise  shown  that  Fiat  currency  is  not  such  money  as  is 
“current  among  merchants  ”  of  all  nations,  but  only  among  the  mer¬ 
chants  of  the  nation  that  issued  it,  and  consequently  is  not  money  in 
any  true  sense  of  that  term;  that  if  its  issue  results  in  elevating  prices  of 
property  beyond  the  coin  value,  then  such  estimated  value  is  wholly 
illusory,  and  the  increased  value,  to  whatever  amount  it  may  extend, 
will  be  a  loss  to  the  people  or  nation  of  the  same  amount,  whenever 
values  are  restored  to  their  true  estimate;  I  have  also  directed  at¬ 
tention  to  the  national  changes  that  have  been  occurring  through  all 
past  ages,  and  which  will  probably  continue  to  occur  while  nations 
exist ;  and,  to  that  which  appears  so  near  at  hand  in  regard  to  the 
supremacy  that  England  has  so  long  maintained  in  the  commercial 
and  financial  affairs  of  the  world ;  which  supremacy  may,  and  prob¬ 
ably  will,  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  American  people.  I  have 
shown  the  vast  and  rapidly  increasing  indebtedness  of  the  world 
and  the  great  dangers  that  are  threatening  us  as  a  necessary  conse¬ 
quence,  and  that  unless  some  means  can  be  adopted  to  prevent  an 
increase  of  the  evil — the  small  creditor  class  will  have  the  great 
debtor  class  as  entirely  at  their  mercy  as  the  power  of  MIGHT  over 
right  has  exercised  during  the  past  thousands  of  years.  I  have 
likewise  shown  that  the  issue  of  Fiat  currency ,  of  any  kind,  tends  to 
produce  fluctuations  in  values,  alike  injurious  to  all  classes,  except, 
perhaps,  the  gambling  speculators,  and  that,  if  Mr.  McCulloch’s  test 
of  what  constitutes  money  is  true,  it  can  not  be  accepted  as  money, 
for  its  tendency  is  the  exact  reverse  of  the  fifth  requisite  that  he  as¬ 
serts  is  necessary  to  constitute  money;  and  I  have  also  shown  the 
means  by  which  an  unfluctuating  currency  can  be  secured,  and 
the  prosperity  of  the  nation  advanced,  while  it  shall  maintain  that 
supremacy  which  it  is  apparently  destined  to  enjoy. 

Chicago ,  Sept.  15,  1879.  Samuel  Hoard. 


